


Emotion

by etcetera_kit



Series: Broken [3]
Category: Super Sentai Series, 宇宙戦隊キュウレンジャー | Uchu Sentai Kyuranger
Genre: Birthday Party, Bullying, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Parent Politics, Smut, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:19:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etcetera_kit/pseuds/etcetera_kit
Summary: When Echidna suggested the family vacation with Stinger and Naga, Scorpio had been pleasantly surprised. But things unravel slowly as Stinger and Naga seem to be under a lot of pressure, and their daughter has issues at school.
Relationships: Echidna/Scorpio (Kyuranger), Naga Ray/Stinger
Series: Broken [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775209
Comments: 21
Kudos: 8





	1. Helpless

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back to my Broken universe! I'm so happy to present the third installment! Special shout-out and lots of thanks to 8bitstrawberrie! Not only did she help name the latest round of babies, but without her, this piece would not be happening! 
> 
> If you've read Broken, you know what you're in for! Please enjoy!

**Chapter 1: Helpless**

_Look into your eyes and the sky’s the limit…_

Scorpio leaned back in the lounge chair, smiling as Echidna herded the girls out of the water and onto the patio for lunch. He held their new baby, Coral, against his chest. She’d just had her own lunch and dozed against him. Gods, she was already six months old. Misha was five. Where did the time even go? Stinger finished putting the food out as the three girls clamored over to the table, still wearing their bathing suits. Naga was inside, trying to calm down his wailing baby. (Akane was a few days older than Coral and recovering from an ear infection.)

Oddly, this vacation had been Echidna’s idea.

They’d gone on mini breaks before Misha had been born and had a selection of places they liked that were quiet. Echidna learned that one of the cabins on this lake had multiple bedrooms—two bedrooms had private bathrooms, and there was a room with bunk beds upstairs and another with single beds, clearly meant for the kids. Clearly meant for more than one family. The girls had a school break and Echidna showed him the cabin on her datapad. She’d taken a minute to finally spit out that she was interested in going to the cabin with Stinger and Naga and their kids. The babies were six months old, she’d said. More than old enough to handle a trip. Plus Misha and Kaliya were in first grade, and Mika was in fourth grade. They were happy to play by the lake and in the shallows, and quite good at entertaining themselves. And they could bring outdoor-style food they didn’t prepare often for the kids.

She would not have made that suggestion when Misha was a baby, and Scorpio was pleased that she was finally feeling close enough to his brother’s family to suggest this.

“Do we have mac and cheese?” Kaliya was asking.

Echidna’s expression clearly said, _this child only eats mac and cheese,_ but then reflected on how _she_ would happily eat just mac and cheese and made an acquiescing face.

Stinger just said, “Yes, we do. Sit down and everyone can get their food.”

Mika peered anxiously into the cabin, through the sliding glass door. She looked up at Stinger. “Is Akane okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Stinger reassured her. “Her ear is still bothering her.”

“She gets a lot of ear infections,” Misha commented.

“All of you did when you were her age,” Scorpio replied.

“Coral doesn’t,” was the response from his daughter.

Scorpio fought the urge to roll his eyes. Coral got as many ear infections as Misha did at her age. But Misha slept like a rock every night and could get so focused on reading or drawing or playing a game that she didn’t fully register that Coral was crying. And when she did focus on her baby sister, she simply thought she needed a diaper change. That was really the weirdest part of the new baby. He and Echidna had talked a lot about how Misha would react, preparing her to be a big sister, understanding the baby would take up much of his and Echidna’s time… they hadn’t been expecting Misha to just take the baby in stride and keep going as if nothing had changed.

His oldest was either very well adjusted or not adjusted at all. Time would tell.

Stinger made lunch and simply threw together what the kids liked—mac and cheese, strawberries and some chicken tenders. And all the adults would eat that too.

“White cheddar mac and cheese?” Echidna said with obvious delight.

Scorpio patted Coral’s back a little and she sighed, snuggling against him. Misha looked like Echidna with his scorpion tail. Coral was going to look like him with her mother’s eyes. Echidna made sure all the girls were sitting down and passing the serving dishes nicely (under Stinger’s supervision), then came over to him. She reached out, gently stroking Coral’s hair. “How’s she doing?” she asked softly.

“She’s good,” Scorpio replied. “Ate her lunch.” He glanced into the living room. Naga seemed to have gotten Akane calmed down a little. “She needs to go down for her nap properly, but I don’t want to do that until Akane is also ready to go down.”

“Yeah,” Echidna glanced through the window. She shook her head and sat down on the edge of the lounge chair next to him.

“No,” Stinger was telling Kaliya and Misha (while Mika just ate her food), “No seconds until everyone has had a serving. You know the rules.”

“Food,” Echidna muttered as Stinger let the girls eat around the round table, and brought the remaining food over to a side table near them. “You want mac and cheese?”

Scorpio smiled. “ _You_ want mac and cheese.”

“Just chicken tenders and strawberries for you?”

“Yes.” He looked at Stinger. “We got any campfire sauce?”

“Of course. Let me go get it,” and he disappeared into the cabin.

Echidna got herself a bowl of mac and cheese, and put some of the chicken tenders and strawberries on a plate for him. “You eating more than mac and cheese?” he teased.

“We’re on vacation,” came the retort. “I can do what I want.”

They were silent for a moment. Scorpio looked over at the girls. They were talking and eating happily. They’d get back in the water after lunch and be ready to come in, maybe watch a movie, before dinner. There was a nice firepit in the back, and they’d been having fun making s’mores and whatever other ‘roast over a fire’ desserts Scorpio and Stinger could come up with. A cool breeze came off the lake and everyone seemed to be having a good time disconnecting and enjoying time together. Echidna even played a few board games with the girls (even though she had very little patience for their board games.) Misha and Kaliya were excited to sleep in top bunks. The babies seemed content sharing a space. And the master bedrooms gave them lots of privacy at night.

Stinger appeared from inside the house, campfire sauce in one hand, and Akane cradled in his other arm. He set the bowl with the sauce down and bounced the baby a little. She didn’t look happy, but her bawling had stopped. Naga followed him out, looking exhausted. Echidna gestured to the food for Naga and he just shook his head tightly.

“You not feeling well?” Echidna asked.

Naga sighed, sitting down on the lounge chair near them. “I think Kaliya gave me the stomach bug she picked up at school.”

“No one stays well around kids,” Echidna muttered. “Little germ factories.”

“That’s no way to talk about your daughters and nieces,” Scorpio teased.

Echidna just glowered at him, but reached out and smoothed down Coral’s hair. Their baby’s name had been another last minute find from Echidna. On a nature site of all things. But the name combined Scorpius and Ophiuchus, and, well, they just liked the name. Misha had been an easy baby. Slept through the night early. Got through potty training with no issues. Scorpio had been afraid that Coral wouldn’t be so easy, but she was proving to be the same way. Slept through the night at three months old, starting on her combination of formula and baby food. He’d also worried that Misha might regress a little bit, which with her in kindergarten at the time, would be a problem. But he’d underestimated his daughter’s ability to live in her own world. Maybe when the girls were older, they’d be friends. But right now, he was happy they coexisted without issues.

Stinger sat down in the lounge chair with Naga and Akane’s cries died out completely. She closed her eyes, still whimpering a little. Akane was Stinger’s hybrid baby—silver hair, orange scorpion tail, and he could very clearly see she got features from both Naga and Stinger.

Echidna looked worriedly at Naga.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked him.

Naga nodded again. “I’m fine.

She didn’t seem convinced and, honestly, Naga didn’t look that great. He was pale, dark circles evident under his eyes. They were on vacation, right? No need for Naga to be completely exhausted while they were supposed to be indulgently sleeping all day.

“Why don’t you go lie down?” Scorpio suggested. “Stinger and I will get the babies down, and Echidna will keep an eye on the older girls.”

Naga shook his head. “She doesn’t watch them. She looks at her datapad or phone and just says ‘hey’ in a warning tone when they get too loud.”

Echidna turned to Scorpio. “Dammit, he knows!”

But they all knew Naga was joking.

“How come I can’t say that word?” Misha asked.

“Because you’re five,” Echidna replied immediately. “You can say it when you’re older.”

“How old?”

“Eighteen.”

“That’s so far away!”

But Misha turned back to her food. Naga stood up. “Thanks. I am going to lie down.” Stinger squeezed his hand before he left.

Scorpio nodded at Akane. “Is she ready to go down?”

Stinger looked at her for a moment and nodded.

They went inside and getting the babies down took no time at all.

Back outside with the baby monitor, Scorpio had to smile. Echidna had the girls clear their lunch dishes and clean up the table (including sweeping under the table). She was in the lounge chair, eating the rest of her mac and cheese, while the girls were splashing in the shallow water on the lake shore.

“You got them to work fast,” Stinger commented.

“They know what stands between them and playing.”

Echidna didn’t want to admit that she was actually really good with the girls. She knew how to motivate them to do chores, pitch in and do their part, take responsibility, and yet still have fun. All three of the older girls adored her, and Coral and Akane likely would as well when they got a little bit older. (She had no tolerance for toddler meltdowns. Toddlers behaving badly were removed from public immediately or put in a safe place to calm down.) She naturally took care of Coral, but Scorpio could tell she wanted Coral to hurry up and get to Misha’s age. But she would be patient. The funny part was Echidna hated birthday parties or other activities where more than her children and nieces would be there. She didn’t want to deal with the other kids. She could. Just didn’t want to.

He motioned for Echidna was scoot forward a little and he got behind her in the chair. She leaned back and he wrapped an arm around her waist. Stinger sat down in the other lounge chair.

“Hey,” Echidna got Stinger’s attention. “Are you sure Naga’s okay?”

Stinger sighed. “He will be. Kaliya did have a stomach bug last week. And Akane doesn’t sleep through the night well yet.”

Scorpio nudged Echidna not to brag that Coral slept through the night at three months old.

She also didn’t seem completely satisfied with Stinger’s answer, but Scorpio could tell that Stinger was really tired too. He was just putting up a good front for the girls.

“They’ll be out of the water in a bit,” Scorpio threw out there. “I think we can make an early dinner and get everyone to bed early tonight.”

\------------------

And they did manage to get everyone down early.

Mika, Kaliya and Misha played in the water until midafternoon, and then came in for dry clothes and a movie. Around five, Scorpio and Stinger got the fire going, and the girls roasted hot dogs for dinner, and ate some raw veggies on the side, because Naga insisted they needed something healthy after a day and a half of nothing but junk. Coral and Akane ate their dinner, and Stinger grilled some black bean burgers for the adults. (The girls would eat those too, but they were having fun with the hot dogs.) Scorpio then got out the marshmallows and the girls made s’mores.

In spite of the sugar, by shortly after seven, all the girls were dragging and the babies were dozing. Naga got Akane down this time, while Scorpio took care of Coral again. Once the babies were down in their room, the older girls got ready for bed. All the kids were asleep by eight.

Now the private adult bedrooms came in handy.

Echidna’s hands were flat on his chest, skin flushed, beaded with sweat as she rode him, hips moving erratically. He slammed his own hips upwards, hands on her waist. She was clearly in the mood for something quick and dirty to take the edge off, before she got into the massage oil he’d brought along. (And the doors to these rooms locked, so small children could not walk in. Interrupt, sure. But walk in? No. They’d had enough experiences with forgetting to lock the door and Misha walking in that making sure the door was locked had practically become foreplay.)

And, gods, she bounced back fast from having a baby. Scorpio wouldn’t have cared either way, but he was privately impressed with how she’d shed the extra baby weight and was back to the same shape she’d been before two kids. Pert ass, great waist definition, perky tits. He ran a hand up her chest to her breasts, gently massaging then squeezing one. She gasped and one hand came to cover his. (They didn’t breastfeed either child—Ophiuchians couldn’t produce enough natural breastmilk. So between that and a breastfeeding info-video that horrified Echidna, they’d gone with formula for both their daughters. Echidna had been very pregnant with Misha when a well-meaning person from one of Naga’s parent groups started talking about breastfeeding and bonding with the baby. To which Echidna had asked, ‘Can’t you just hold your baby and bond?’)

“Fuck,” she muttered, followed by, “Harder.”

“Anything you want, beautiful.”

He slammed into her and she let out a satisfied noise. Her head was thrown back and her hair was loose around her shoulders. A little longer than normal, some silver roots showing, but mostly still in riotous shades of purple and blue. He remembered a time when she did other colors, but had settled into purple or blue, or both, since the girls had been born. In fact, he was pretty sure Misha thought her mother had naturally purple hair.

She leaned down for a messy kiss and he obliged her, one hand holding her close and completely plundering her mouth. She bit back, bidding for dominance and her teeth gently scraped his lower lip as they broke apart.

“I want your tail later,” she ground out.

“Did we bring lube?”

In spite of her blissed-out expression, she was able to narrow her eyes in a, _Of course we did, do I look stupid?_ expression.

“You’re always prepared,” he replied, before concentrating on slamming home.

Echidna was getting close, her body showing all the familiar signs.

And then someone pounded on the door.

“Fucking hell,” Echidna swore, hips coming to a stop, still seated on him.

“That’s not the girls,” he added.

“No shit,” was the sarcastic response.

“What?” he called.

“Aniki!” His brother. Sounding pissed off. “We need to talk.”

“About?”

“Just get out here!”

“Who pissed in his cereal?” Echidna muttered. She groaned. “Fuck, I was so close.” She leaned down and kissed him. “Why is your brother such a mood killer? Later.” And she gracefully sat up, allowing him to pull out and swinging her legs over him.

“I’ll deal with him,” Scorpio said, sitting up.

Echidna flopped onto the bed dramatically. “You want me to wait for you?”

“Yes, but somehow, I think you need to get off.”

She smirked and rolled to her back. Giving him a sultry look, she spread her legs. She was still wet and throbbing and fucking beautiful. One hand came up to tease her own breasts. The other slid down her stomach, between her legs, fingers going to tease her sweet spot and dip inside her. She threw her head back as her fingers made contact and he swore.

The knocking came again.

Echidna groaned. She sat up. “I’m going to take a cold shower. Deal with your brother.”

Scorpio really needed a cold shower himself right now, but knowing his brother wanted something made the hard-on fade a little. He put on some lounge pants and his robe (a satin-smooth one that Echidna had gotten him right before Misha’s birth. She’d said the piece would come in handy. And she’d been extremely right.)

He watched as Echidna went into the bathroom. He opened the door to Stinger pacing the hallway. He shut the door behind him and hissed, “What?”

“Why is your daughter used to walking in on you having sex?”

Scorpio blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me!”

“Okay,” he said slowly, ushering his little brother into the living room and getting him to sit down on the couch. Stinger was wearing pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt. “Explain,” he said evenly, sitting down in the armchair next to him.

“Misha got up.”

Scorpio felt a pang. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” Stinger reassured him. “She just wanted a drink and was sleepy and got confused about which room she needed to go to.”

“So she knocked on your door?”

“Yes, but we didn’t hear her at first.”

“Because you were fucking?”

Stinger rolled his eyes. “Echidna is wearing off on you,” he grumbled. “But yes.”

“If the adults tell her to wait outside, Misha knows to listen.”

“She does and she did. But I came out and she asked for water, and then I asked her if she was okay, and she literally snorted and said ‘Kaa-chan and Tou-chan do that all the time’!”

“I mean… that’s accurate, but she doesn’t watch.”

“Then what?”

“Look,” Scorpio said. “We’ve had a few incidents where we forgot to lock the door and she came in. She always leaves immediately and we just explained to her that there are some things adults do that are private and she always needs to make sure she knocks unless there is an emergency.” He tossed out, “Emergency is fire, blood, vomit or death.”

“Our daughters have never walked in on us!”

“Stinger,” Scorpio said patiently. “You walked in on our parents a few times as a small child and you were not traumatized or scarred for life.”

“I just… how was Misha so calm?”  
Scorpio shrugged. “She takes everything in stride. I don’t know how I got a calm kid.”

“She’s the opposite of Echidna.”

“Actually,” he countered, “I think she’s Echidna if she didn’t grow up in the Ophiuchus System.”

Stinger sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Why? I’m sure she didn’t see anything. And I assume she’s back in bed?” His brother nodded. “She’s _fine_.” He gave Stinger a searching look. “You know, you can’t protect the girls from the real world forever. Sooner or later, they’ll figure things out and I think you’d rather those things come from you than their friends at school.”

Stinger sighed. “They’re just so young.”

“Mika is nine. You had a job when you were nine.”

“Well, our girls don’t have to do that! And I don’t want them to.”

“I don’t either, but don’t underestimate them. They’re all smart. They can handle a lot.” Scorpio frowned at him. “Are you okay? You and Naga both seem very stressed out.”

Another sigh. “I just think the third kid is a harder adjustment than we thought.”

“You are outnumbered now.”

Stinger scrubbed his hands over his face. “It’s not just that. I mean, yes, Mika and Kaliya are pretty self-sufficient, but I don’t want them to have to grow up too quick because Naga and I are preoccupied dealing with the baby.” He shook his head. “And Akane is… difficult.”

Scorpio smiled a little. “You got spoiled with Mika and Kaliya.”

Stinger glared at him. “And you didn’t with Misha and Coral?”

“Look,” Scorpio said gently. “Echidna and I know that Coral is our last. Two is enough for us. She’s not interested in another pregnancy and I’m getting too old.” He paused, and continued, “But you and Naga? I know you two have always been interested in a big family. But now you’ve got the reality check baby.”

“Reality check?”

“The one that is colicky and doesn’t sleep well and is generally more demanding.” He tried not to grin and failed. “You got _you_ as a baby.”

“What?”

He quit trying to disguise how entertained he was. “ _You_ were just like Akane as a baby.” He shook his head. “Kaa-chan and Tou-chan had no idea what they were going to do with you. When you were awake, you were adorable and everyone loved you. But you cried a lot, didn’t sleep through the night until you were past six months old, kept getting sleep regression, ear infections… nothing was seriously wrong with you. You were just… difficult.”

His little brother stared at him, blinking. Scorpio had never really told Stinger any of this, because he hadn’t become Stinger’s guardian until he turned five. By then, he’d gotten over many over the things that plagued him as a baby, and was just a shy, sensitive kid who loved to point out good things. Scorpio knew he was protective of Stinger, still was in a lot of ways. Especially since their roles had evened back out after Misha.

Stinger finally said, “I guess Mika and Kaliya took after Naga.”

“First, don’t beat yourself up. There’s no way to be sure. And second,” he added, circling back to the beginning of their conversation, “Echidna is not wearing off on me. We’ve been together for damn-near nine years.”

“I know,” Stinger admitted.

“Stinger,” Scorpio said seriously, “You know I’ll help you, right? Whatever you need.”

Stinger sighed. “I don’t know what I need.”

“I think you need a break,” he said evenly. “The girls will be back in school two days after we get back. I’ll pick up all three of them one morning. Get the older ones off to school and take Akane for the day. She can run errands with me and Coral.”

“You’ll handle two babies all day?”

Scorpio shrugged. “That’s why we got the double stroller, right?” Because the moment they realized Naga and Echidna were due within two weeks of each other, they decided that things like double strollers were a good investment.

“Yeah,” Stinger admitted.

“You’re allowed to say you need help.” Scorpio shook his head. “I know you and Naga aren’t perfect, and I know you worry about things. Let me help you sometimes.”

Stinger nodded slowly. “I think I will take you up on that offer to babysit Akane.”

“Any time.”

His baby brother was struggling, but wouldn’t really say what was wrong. Maybe this really was the third baby hitting him hard. He didn’t think that Stinger and Naga were having marital problems—hell, they’d been together way longer than he and Echidna had. He remembered when Stinger told them what the new baby’s name would be—Akane meant brilliant red, and was a common name amongst their people, essentially meaning that people were named after Antares. Their grandmother had been named Akane. Their great grandfather had been the last one in their family to have a black tail… until Scorpio came along. Misha had inherited his black tail, and there was always a chance one of Stinger’s girls would as well, but both had bright orange tails like their father.

Stinger stood up. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Go back to whatever it was you were doing with Echidna,” he added, gesturing vaguely.

Scorpio stood up as well, but quickly pulled his brother into a tight hug. He felt Stinger tense, but then return the embrace. He released him. “Akane will get over this stage and _you_ will get through this. Just in time to worry about Mika being in junior high and going on dates.”

Stinger laughed, finally looking less careworn. “Right? I think we need to enjoy them all being little and wanting to hang out with us.”

They said their good nights and headed back to their rooms.

Echidna had clearly showered and pulled on her short jersey nightgown. Scorpio slipped the robe off and laid down on the bed next to her, getting an arm over her waist and pulling her close. “What was Stinger’s damage this time?” she murmured.

“Misha accidently went to the wrong room and walked in on them.”

“Banging?” Echidna snorted with laughter. “Okay, I realize it’s not great that our five-year-old has a tendency to walk in on adults banging, but it’s your brother and Naga, and that’s hilarious.”

“She’s fine.”

“I know she’s fine. Misha is smart.”

“I think Stinger was just embarrassed.”

“That tracks.”

Scorpio held her close and murmured, “I also think they’re both stressed out.”

“Yeah.” Echidna turned over in his arms, resting a hand on his chest. “I was wearing my bikini this morning and Naga said something about how I don’t look like I’ve had two kids.”

Scorpio frowned, jumping to the same conclusion Echidna had. “He looks fine.”

“You know that, and I know that, and Stinger knows that, but he’s not twenty-six and bouncing back like he used to anymore.” She shook her head. “Plus he’s male, so the pregnancies are always harder anyways. And this is kid number three. I think he’s just self-conscious right now.”

“And Akane is not an easy baby.”

“At least their older two are in school.” Echidna shook her head again. “I can’t imagine trying to handle Coral while we had a toddler running around at home.” She wrinkled her nose. “They did that with Kaliya, and Naga said they purposely waited until Kaliya was in school to have Akane.”

“Makes sense. And,” he pointed out, “Misha would have been in preschool still had we not started her in kindergarten a year early.”

“Are you saying we didn’t plan things out?”

“Not as well as you would have people believe.”

“I think that’s their problem.”

“What?”

“Planning. They want to plan everything down to the last detail.” Echidna ran a hand down his chest. “I get it. I like a plan. But you can’t plan for everything.” She shrugged. “I’m kind of glad we got married and had Misha in a rush. Bought the house. Gave me less time to freak out and second guess all our decisions.”

Scorpio smiled. “Naga is the planner in that relationship. Stinger picked up the habits until they got ingrained and now he tries to plan too.”

“Just wait until they have different plans,” Echidna muttered.

“Well, just take a moment to feel superior.”

“Oh, I already do, but I did tell Naga we would take Akane for him to give him a break.”

Scorpio grinned. “I just told Stinger the exact same thing.”

“Great! _You_ can take the babies somewhere, while I figure out where Misha is hiding all the bugs in her room.”

“Aw, don’t take away her bug collection.”

“I will take away her bug collection when they are alive and she doesn’t have them properly secured in their housing.”

“Maybe we should just get her a cat.”

“A cat would eat the bugs. I see no problem with this.”

Scorpio wrapped both arms around Echidna, holding her close. Nothing was certain in life, but he was glad that they found each other. Misha was five, so that meant they’d been married close to six years. Their wedding anniversary was different then the anniversary of when they started dating, but they tended to celebrate the latter. That was a true mark of their relationship. The wedding had been simple and under the radar, as had Misha’s birth. Granted, Scorpio’s coworkers threw them a baby shower and did again for Coral, and Echidna had made friends with some more relaxed parents who did the same thing for Coral. (Echidna would never admit it, but she really liked Naga’s friend Hammie. Her and Spada had gotten married a few years ago and had a toddler. Hammie was a lot more relaxed than some of the other parents and, sometimes, Scorpio thought Echidna was disappointed that Hammie’s kid was directly between theirs and unlikely to be friends with theirs.)

“You want to finish what you started now?” Echidna asked, smirk coming back.

He grinned fully, hand going to the hem of her nightgown. “Echidna, the answer to that question is always yes.”

“Good, because your brother might be a buzzkill, but I’d at least like an orgasm tonight.”

“You want one or more than one?”

“More if preferable, but I’ll settle for one _really_ good one.”

\------------------

The girls were playing near the driveway as Scorpio loaded things into the car on the final day of their vacation. Echidna had Coral in a sling, and the baby was cranky, fussing a little bit. Once she got settled in her car seat and they started driving, she’d likely fall asleep.

Misha and Kaliya had linked arms and came over to him.

“Tou-chan?”

“What, Misha?”

“Can Kaliya ride in our car?”

“Yes, but make sure Jii-chan is okay with it.”

They made an excited noise and skipped off. He smiled as he watched them go to the porch, where Stinger moving the final box of things outside. Naga was sitting on the porch with Akane, who was wailing again. Mika was reading on her datapad under a tree in the front yard. (Mika got along with Kaliya and Misha, but they were younger and she sometimes got impatient with them. Completely understandable. All the girls just seemed to find the babies noisy right now.)

Echidna came up to him, bouncing Coral a little. “Are we ready yet?”

“Just let me help load Stinger’s car.”

“Fine,” she said in a long-suffering tone. She looked down at Coral. “Just relax for a minute, then you’ll be in your car seat and asleep. And when you wake up, we will magically be at the diner for lunch.”

“Tou-chan!” Misha said, still arm-in-arm with Kaliya. “Jii-chan says that’s fine!”

“Great,” Scorpio told her.

“What is happening?” Echidna asked in an undertone.

“Kaliya is riding with us.”

“Oh really?” but Scorpio knew Echidna really didn’t care if Kaliya rode with them. Since Misha and Kaliya were so close, Echidna just took Kaliya in stride. Misha wanted bunk beds at home so there was a bed for Kaliya when she slept over. Scorpio hoped that the girls would remain close all their lives, but he knew that nothing was certain and he was glad they had each other now.

He went to the porch and grabbed the remaining boxes. Between him and Stinger, the second car was loaded and packed. They did one last walkthrough of the lake house—everything was in place and cleaner than when they arrived. Nothing left behind.

“We should make the diner by noon or so,” Stinger was saying. “I’ll follow you.”

“Works for me.” Scorpio turned to the girls. “Everyone in the cars!”

“Finally,” Echidna muttered, going to their car to get Coral settled.

“Akane doing all right?” Scorpio asked Naga as he left the porch and was starting the process of getting his baby settled.

“Yeah,” Naga replied. “She’s all right. She’ll sleep in the car. And Mika will read.” He looked up at his eldest, still reading under the tree. “Mika! Let’s go!”

She snapped to attention and scrambled to her feet.

Getting everyone settled and getting on the road took very little time. Echidna made sure they had two kids and a baby in their car, and then Scorpio led the way down the road. He glanced into the rearview mirror at both girls. They were on their datapads, playing a cooperative game with pancakes or milkshakes or something cute like that. Both had their headphones on, but he knew they were communicating via their datapads. As young as they were, both girls were strong readers and writers. The cabin wasn’t that far from their city, so they only had to drive about an hour to get to the diner.

They pulled off the main road and into the parking lot, waiting for Stinger and Naga to catch up and get there. The girls were putting away their datapads and Coral was babbling to herself, awake and ready for lunch. Scorpio turned to look at them. “You excited for school to start again?”

“Yeah!” Kaliya said immediately.

While Misha said at the same time, “I guess.”

“My teacher is so nice!” Kaliya continued. “She lets us paint on Fridays.”

“I wish I was in your class,” Misha commented.

“That would be so much fun!”

And then the girls were off, talking about what they would do if they were in the same class at school. A lot of color coordinated clothing and sitting next to each other, as far as Scorpio could tell, but they were happily theorizing, so who was he to stop them? He glanced back at the girls. They were talking, but Misha looked a little bit distant, a little bit unhappy.

He felt a pang. He wanted her to be happy. She loved spending time with her cousins and seemed to have friends from preschool and kindergarten, but she’d been a little quieter this year. Focused more on games and books. Searching for bugs in the backyard. The beginning of school seemed to be okay. She didn’t complain about her teacher or her classmates, and the first parent-teacher conference of the year had gone well. The teacher said Misha was bright and studious, sometimes got into dust-ups with the other kids, but nothing too serious. Even though her classmates were a year older than her, she was still miles ahead of them in reading and math.

Now, he was worried something _was_ wrong, but she wasn’t telling them. Probably because of the baby and her perception that Coral took up a lot of their time. And Coral did. But Scorpio still wanted her to tell them when something was wrong.

Stinger’s car pulled into the parking lot.

Misha caught sight of the car and squealed, “Food!”

Well, the girls were going back to school very soon. He’d make sure he dropped them off and picked them up that first day, just so he could check in with his daughter. For now, she could order pancakes for lunch and enjoy herself before school started again.

\------------------

“Thanks, Jii-chan!” Mika and Kaliya said almost in unison as they piled out of the car and onto the front lawn of their house. Stinger was waiting on the front porch for them and waved as Scorpio dropped them off. His nieces made the front porch safely and waved to him as well.

Smiling, Scorpio pulled away from the house, glancing in the rearview mirror at his daughter. Now that Kaliya was gone, Misha was hugging her backpack to her chest, staring out the window. If they were home, he knew her purple bear would be where her backpack currently was. His heart pounded in his chest. She only clutched her bear when she was _really_ upset. Her and Echidna, both the same way with their bears when they were upset. This was _bad_.

“How was school, Misha?” he asked, as neutrally as he could.

“Fine,” she mumbled, hugging her backpack tighter.

“You want to talk about something?”

She shook her head.

Okay. Time for a different tactic. “Hey, how about we go get ice cream? Sound fun?”

Misha _loved_ going to get ice cream, so he was shocked when she started to nod, but then crumpled and tears began rolling down her cheeks. In another moment, she was sobbing. His heart dropped into his stomach. She only got upset about fun things when she was already upset about something else. Like she couldn’t let herself enjoy the fun thing because she felt bad. Another thing she’d inherited from her mother. Not bad, just a warning sign.

“Misha, baby girl,” he tried to say soothingly. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to go to school anymore!” she cried.

“What’s going on at school?” He asked, trying not to sound panicked or distressed. Really didn’t want to upset Misha more. He steered the car towards their house.

“All the other kids are mean.”

“They’re mean to you?” he clarified

She hiccupped and said haltingly, “They won’t play with me. They said they’re not allowed.”

He frowned. Not allowed? That was a weird thing for first graders to say. Echidna didn’t really interact with the other parents, because she had very little tolerance for the parent politics. So he handled the classroom volunteering and made sure that Misha had everything she needed for school. (And brought the cupcakes for her birthday.) And sure, in preschool, they had a reputation as the parents of the kid that swore. But all that seemed to die down once Misha got to kindergarten. She’d had a good year last year. He tried to think of the other parents in the class where all of this could be coming from. And he was coming up blank. He could think of a few offenders from Misha’s preschool, but those kids all went to a different school now. What the actual fuck was going on here?

“Misha, what exactly do they do?” Scorpio found himself sounding firm, because, _dammit_ , he needed more information out of her.

“They tell me I have to sit by myself. So I do.”

“You sit by yourself?”

“At recess. And lunch.” Misha sniffled. “I try to read, but they yell at me.”

“What do they yell at you?”

“That I have to stay by myself.”

He stopped himself from swearing and asked as calmly as he could, “Does your teacher know?”

Misha shook her head. “They don’t do it near her.”

And Scorpio knew that Kaliya didn’t go to recess at the same time, otherwise her cousin would be defending her. (Kaliya took after Stinger. She was fiercely protective of her family, especially Misha, her cousin and best friend. Scorpio had witnessed her defend Misha in front of other kids. Kaliya didn’t really care what others thought of her—Misha didn’t either, but she’d never been this socially isolated before.) Was this something _they_ had done to her? Were they too lax and now their daughter didn’t fit in?

She was still sobbing as they got into the driveway.

Scorpio parked the car and then went to the backseat, simply scooping up Misha and carrying her into the house. In this state, there was no way she was doing much of anything herself. She clung to him when he picked her up. Echidna heard the car and opened the front door. She frowned when she saw Misha crying and ushered them into the house. Echidna grabbed the backpack, catching his eye with a _what the fuck is going on_ expression.

Coral was in her swing, chewing on her teddy bear.

“Misha,” Echidna said, voice tight. “What’s going on?”

Scorpio sat her down on the couch and sat next to her. Misha wrapped her arms around his waist, sobs dying down to sniffles. Echidna sat on her other side, gently stroking her hair. “I don’t want to go to school,” Misha mumbled against him.

“I know, baby girl,” Scorpio told her. “Can you take some deep breaths?”

She complied, hiccupping, but no longer crying.

He gently eased her away from him, wiping away some tears. “You said the other kids won’t play with you?”

She nodded.

Echidna immediately looked furious. “They won’t play with you?”

“They say they’re not allowed.”

“Not allowed?” Echidna’s tone very clearly said she thought that was bullshit.

He could see that Echidna very much wanted to ask a lot of question, but he shook his head. Misha wasn’t going to be able to tell them much when she was this upset, and he really wanted her to feel calm and safe before they tried to talk about this. He pulled Misha into his arms again, giving her a big hug. Echidna rubbed her back. He felt his daughter return the hug, snuggling against him for a moment. Gods, he hoped both his daughters would always know they could come to him with _anything_. He never wanted them to be afraid of his reaction. Rather, he wanted their first impulse to be that they needed his help if they got into any trouble. And Echidna would _kill_ for them, she was so protective of them. Misha had grown up with a close-knit and protective family, and his heart broke that she was now experiencing other people being assholes for no apparent reason.

“Tou-chan?” Misha asked after a long moment, releasing him a little and looking up.

“What, baby girl?”

“Can we still get ice cream?”

He smiled. “Yes. Go change out of your school clothes. Kaa-chan and I will get Coral ready to go.”

“Okay.” She slowly went upstairs.

The minute Misha was out of earshot, Echidna hissed, “What the fuck?”

Scorpio shook his head. “I don’t know. She needs to calm down a little, but we need to talk to her teacher about this. She said the other kids aren’t doing this in front of her.”

“I know we told her that she and Kaliya can’t be in the same class. Maybe we should rethink that.”

“Echidna, this isn’t the kids. You know that. It’s their parents.”

“We don’t even know the parents in her class!”

Scorpio frowned. “There has to be someone.”

“Fuck, _fuck_ ,” she ground out. “Did we do this to her?”

“No,” he said immediately, although he wasn’t sure he believed that.

Misha appeared downstairs again. He’d forgotten how fast she could go when she was motivated by ice cream. She held her teddy bear to her chest and asked, “Can we ask Kaliya to come along?”

Echidna smiled at her. “Sure. I’ll call Naga.” She stood up, going into the kitchen for her cell phone.

Misha climbed on the couch and into his lap, giving him a hug.

Scorpio held her close.

He just wanted her to be happy. Stinger and Naga were stressed out, and now his daughter was having problems at school… what was _happening_ right now?

_To be continued..._


	2. Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Echidna and Scorpio try to figure out what's going on at Misha's school, Scorpio's Jark Matter nightmares return and Echidna's encounter with Misha's teacher leaves her in over her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go everyone! Enjoy!

**Chapter Two: Burn**

_The world has no right to my heart…_

Echidna yawned as golden, early morning sunlight filtered into the kitchen. She put on a pot of coffee, listening to the machine groan and gurgle. According to the baby monitor, Coral was still asleep, but knowing her daughter, she’d be awake in about thirty minutes. Wouldn’t cry too much, but would start making noises and want breakfast. Everything was still and peaceful. For now.

She let out a long breath, leaning against the counter.

Everything fucking _sucked_ right now.

She’d hardly gotten any sleep.

Then again, she wasn’t the one having Jark Matter nightmares. She’d woken up to Scorpio making distressed noises in his sleep and had shaken him awake. He’d been sweaty and clammy, but refused to talk about what the dream had been. Around the same time in the middle of the night, she’d heard shuffling from Misha’s room. She pushed Scorpio into the shower and went upstairs, finding Misha awake and whimpering.

She sat on the edge of her bed, gently smoothing her hair down. “What’s wrong, baby?” she asked softly.

“I had a bad dream,” Misha mumbled into her pillow.

“What about?”

“School.”

Echidna rubbed her back a little, then reached down, picking up her teddy bear from where the plush toy had fallen to the floor. Misha sleepily took the bear from her. Echidna kept rubbing her back. “It was just a dream,” she said soothingly, “Not real.” She’d said those exact words to Scorpio so many times. His Jark Matter dreams mixed reality with his darkest fears, so nothing was truly a memory. He had never really been that person.

“Kaa-chan, will you sing to me?”

She had paused. Singing to the girls was Scorpio’s territory. He sang songs from his home planet, and Echidna knew most of them now. (He hadn’t really started singing again until Misha had been born, and Stinger seemed shocked he started again. But on the other hand, having a baby had driven them both to start drinking coffee. Again for Scorpio, starting for her.) But she did know the songs and the girls didn’t care that she was a terrible singer. She started singing Scorpio’s go-to, a song about the pride of the Scorpius System. Misha’s breathing evened out after only a minute or two, and then she was asleep.

Scorpio was out of the shower and back in bed when she got downstairs.

“You sure you don’t want to talk about it?” she had asked him.

He shook his head, looking a little down and vulnerable in the moonlight in their room. She simply nudged him to roll over on his side, and started rubbing his back. Incrementally, he relaxed into her touch and soon enough, he was dozing again. Once he got to that point, she slowed down the backrub and moved against him, pressed against his back, arm around his waist. She got his tail over her own waist. He was so stressed about everything happening with Misha that he really needed a moment to relax. He took everything with the girls so seriously and personally, and Echidna did not want him to get burned out. He was always the one volunteering to take _all_ the girls places. Scorpio needed a break right now.

Echidna yawned again.

Whatever was going on at school with Misha seemed to be getting worse. She cried on the way to school and begged to stay home. She cried when they picked her up from school. Always the same story, the other kids said she had to be alone and they weren’t allowed to play with her. Scorpio had called her teacher several times, but the teacher reported she was engaged at school, a little bit of a loner, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing added up or made sense. Misha wasn’t a drama queen. Not even close. She liked to read, made up a lot of stories to herself, was pretty blunt and straightforward about her opinion (they were trying to work with her on not accidentally hurting someone’s feelings), and rarely cried about anything. So the tears made no sense. Something had to be going on, and Echidna wasn’t convinced Misha’s telling was the whole story or accurate. She didn’t think her daughter was lying, but she was five. 

Shuffling.

She looked up as Scorpio walked into the kitchen. He was only wearing a pair of pajama pants and stretched his arms over his head. Even exhausted, her husband managed to be fucking _gorgeous_. Lean abdomen, thin trail of black hair leading into his pajama pants, smooth skin, black hair tousled from sleep, light stubble shadow. He was so much hotter than her. She sometimes wondered how she’d landed him.

“Coffee?” he asked.

She started to nod towards the pot, before she realized, “No.”

“What?”

“No,” she repeated. “I am so fucking tired of this bullshit. You’re going back to bed. Misha is going back to bed. I’ll take Coral… somewhere.”

Scorpio looked genuinely confused. “You want to take Coral out?”

“Yes!” Echidna shot back.

“Where?”

“To the…” she trailed off, then snapped, “I don’t fucking know. I’ll figure it out. She’s not that hard to entertain and take somewhere.”

“Echidna,” Scorpio started slowly. “We have things to do today and Misha has school.”

“Yeah? I can handle the stuff and Misha can miss _one damn day_ of school.”

“Echidna—”

She held up a hand to stop him. “I love you, but everyone is going to listen to me right now.”

“Okay.” But Scorpio looked tired. He needed the rest and wasn’t arguing with her.

“Make me a list of what needs to be done.”

Scorpio nodded and got his phone off the charger in the kitchen. He tapped a few buttons and she could see him working through what needed to be done. Pick up a few things at the store, drop something or other off with his brother. She didn’t actually know. Scorpio had always taken care of cooking and getting groceries and household essentials, and a lot of cleaning around the house. She did her share of the cleaning and was almost always the one to do the laundry. And she scoured Misha’s room for loose bugs when she was at school. But errands were his territory, and he gave Echidna instructions when she did them. Meanwhile, she paid the bills and took care of their finances.

“Kaa-chan?”

Misha shuffled into the kitchen, still in her pajamas.

“Hey baby girl,” Echidna said, leaning down and pulling her into a hug. Misha hugged her back and then moved on to Scorpio, who stopped his list-making completely to properly hug his daughter.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Scorpio asked her.

“Waffles.”

Echidna moved to the freezer. “I’ll get it,” she offered.

Scorpio blinked. “You’re making waffles?”

“The frozen ones go in the toaster.”

He grinned. “You can handle that,” was the comment. “I’ll make us some egg scrambles.”

Echidna popped two frozen waffles in the toaster and waited while they cooked. She got some juice out of the fridge for Misha, who crawled onto a chair. “You are not going to school today,” Echidna informed her as she set the juice on the table.

Misha blinked. “You said I have to go to school.”

“Well, today is an exception.” Echidna kissed the top of her head. “You’re going back to bed after breakfast, and then you and Tou-chan will meet me and Coral for lunch.”’

Well, hell. Misha looked too tired to argue and Scorpio definitely was as he put together a quick breakfast for them. The toaster dinged with Misha’s waffles. Echidna grabbed a plate from the cupboard and quickly tried to grab the hot waffles from the toaster onto the plate without burning her fingers. She failed and burned her fingers anyways. Swearing under her breath and trying to shake the sting from her fingers, she set the plate on the table. Scorpio looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. “You okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” she said shortly, as she got the syrup out of the fridge and grabbed a fork and butter knife from the drawer. She set both down next to Misha, who grabbed them and put her own syrup on her waffles. She’d also cut them too.

The coffee was finally done, so she grabbed a mug and filled the thing up, not bothering with cream or sugar. Black coffee was fine. Rather how she liked her alcohol. Anything fancy took too long to figure out and wasn’t right half the time. Hard to mess up a plain drink. She sat down at the table next to Misha, who was slowly eating her waffles. Echidna gently pushed her hair behind her ear, smoothing down some of the errant strands. The purple was starting to fade. Maybe she could take Misha out this weekend and get her hair redone. That would be fun, right? Misha liked riotous colors on her hair and nails and liked shopping for equally as loud clothes. And she also liked going to the community garden with Scorpio and playing in the dirt (and finding bugs for her collection.)

“Kaa-chan?”

“Yeah, baby girl?”

“Can I sleep next to Tou-chan this morning?”

Echidna felt her heart drop to her stomach. Hell, her daughter was so upset that she wanted to sleep next to them. She was fucking going to that school and figuring out what the hell was going on. The teacher couldn’t be so oblivious to all this!

“You’ll have to ask Tou-chan,” she replied, trying to keep the waver out of her voice.

“That’s fine,” Scorpio called from the kitchen. He was putting the scramble onto two plates and putting his cooking dishes in the cleaner.

Misha nodded, looking down at her waffles. “Maybe we can see Kaliya today?”

Scorpio walked into the room and put their food on the table. “Sure,” he replied, meeting Echidna’s gaze as she nodded in agreement. He disappeared into the kitchen again, and came back with a glass of water and two forks. He handed one fork to Echidna. She looked down at their food. Eggs with turkey sausage, tomatoes, green peppers and a little bit of cheese. She smiled involuntarily, remembering how he made this exact breakfast the first morning they were together. Back when she had never kept anyone around longer than a night and wasn’t sure what to make of him. Now they’d been together for almost nine years, had two kids together… fucking hell, where did the time go?

They settled into a comfortable silence in the morning sunshine.

Their food was almost gone when Coral started babbling over the baby monitor.

Echidna pushed back from the table, while Scorpio made a move to do the same. “I’ll get her,” Echidna said. “You two finish eating and get ready for bed.”

She went upstairs quickly. When she went into Coral’s room, the baby was still making noises and waving her arms and legs. Naga did this whole swaddling thing with his girls and swore by the practice, but Echidna never saw the need. There were other ways to prevent the baby from rolling over and watching them flail in the morning was kind of cute. Speaking of, the moment Echidna came into Coral’s line of sight, the baby’s face split into a grin. So tiny and already excited to see her. Coral was so easy and happy. Misha had been the same way. Like the baby was just happy to be included.

Echidna gently smoothed down her black hair before picking her up and cuddling her for a moment. “We’re going to have fun today, just you and me,” she told Coral. She carefully laid the baby down on the changing table. “We’ll go run some errands for Tou-chan while him and Onee-chan get some sleep. Then maybe we’ll go to the farmer’s market. Buy you some clothes because you’re growing too fast. Meet Tou-chan and Onee-chan for lunch. Sound good?”

Coral was still smiling.

She picked out a basic outfit for the baby, and then got her changed out of her pajamas and into a fresh diaper. Coral was easy about getting dressed too, and even let Echidna run a soft baby brush through her hair. The black hair made her silver eyes really sparkle—she was going to be gorgeous. Got the best of both them. Hell, both her daughters would be beautiful. They got their father’s good looks. A small piece of her was eternally grateful for that.

Once Coral was ready, she said, “Now you’re not going to get breakfast all over your clean clothes, right?”

Coral just grinned.

Echidna sighed. “I know you. You can’t help yourself. You’ll be wearing breakfast.”

While she did want Coral to get a little bit older, there was something kind of endearing about her at this stage—just a trusting, happy baby that wanted nothing more than to smear food all over her high chair and smile at people. And play with bags of chips. Sealed. Nothing entertained her more. She liked to crinkle the bag.

When she got back downstairs, Scorpio had Misha putting her dishes in the cleaner. He had already cleaned up their dishes, but left her coffee mug, and even got out Coral’s breakfast. Coral made a happy noise upon seeing Scorpio and Misha. She leaned forward, reaching towards Scorpio. He gently took the baby from her, cuddling her and kissing her cheek. “Good morning,” he murmured to her. “Want me to feed her?” he asked Echidna.

“No. You two get back to bed. Call me when you’re awake and tell me where you want to eat.”

He nodded, handing the baby back to Echidna, and then herded Misha upstairs to get her bear.

Echidna fed Coral quickly and managed to avoid the baby wearing too much of the food. She would be presentable when they went out.

Before she left, she peeked into their bedroom to check on them. Scorpio was laying on his side, half-covered with the blanket. Misha had her own blanket—purple and teal patchwork, made by Scorpio—and was curled up under it. She was holding her bear to her chest and was snuggled up against Scorpio’s side. They were both breathing evenly, dead asleep. She smiled. This was good for them. But she was going to that school and figuring out what the hell was going on.

\-----------------

“Meet us at Bonnie’s, okay?”

“You want ice cream for lunch?”

“Not only ice cream. Fried food too!” A pause and then shuffling, and, “ _Somebody_ wants chicken tenders for lunch.”

Echidna smiled into her phone. “We’re at the baby store near there. Bring Coral’s lunch.”

“Sounds good,” Scorpio replied. “We’ll be there in a few minutes,” and he tacked on, “You know Coral is going to try to get fries, right?”

She looked down at the baby currently in a sling against her chest. Coral was grinning at the cashier in the store, making happy noises. The baby had a weird charm about her, so she was able to try fries and other food she really shouldn’t have yet. People just gave her stuff. Echidna shook her head internally. They were trying to monitor her for allergies, which only worked so well when the baby would grab and sneak other people’s food.

“I know,” she sighed. “See you soon.” She disconnected the call and brought her purchases to the front of the store.

The cashier was still waving at Coral, clearly enraptured by the baby. “How old is she?” she asked, smiling.

“Six months,” Echidna replied shortly. She didn’t really like discussing her kids with strangers, but had learned that people found questions about a baby’s age or gender to be mere social niceties. None of that was anyone else’s fucking business and she hated feeling obligated to answer those questions.

Luckily, the cashier rang up their items promptly and Echidna was able to pay and get out of the store before anyone started asking about the developmental milestones Coral was achieving. Again, not something that was any of their business. Coral’s doctor thought she was right on schedule and that was all that mattered. She wasn’t listening to other parents or people who worked at a baby store. But she’d gotten the new clothes for Coral and finished all of Scorpio’s errands. (He wanted to get some spices at a local herb shop, pick up some custom fabric he’d ordered, and drop off some old clothes at a clothing recycling center.)

She grabbed the bag and they were back out in the midday sunshine.

Coral made a noise, indicating she was still happy but a little bit hungry. Echidna smoothed her hair down. “Tou-chan is bringing your lunch, baby girl,” Echidna told her. “You’ll get your baby food and whatever else he decides you can have.” She smiled and added, “No fries.”

The walk over to Bonnie’s was quick and quiet. Coral looked around with interest at all the people and pets they passed. She was at the stage where she was curious about the world around her and learning a lot. When they put Coral in the sling, they usually had her facing away from them, just so she could look around. They hadn’t really used a stroller with Misha, and only used the double stroller when they had Akane too. Normally, Coral was in the sling.

Scorpio and Misha were already there when they arrived, in their normal booth. He stood up when she got there, lifting Coral out of the sling and settling her into a highchair at the end of the table. Misha had her datapad out and used the stylus to color. Echidna slipped the sling off, and handed Scorpio that, the diaper bag and the shopping. He set everything in the corner, on the bench next to him. She slipped into the booth beside Misha, and smoothed her daughter’s hair down.

“How are you feeling?” she asked Scorpio, because Misha was in the zone on her picture.

“Better,” he replied. And he did look better, maybe a little less tired. “Woke up around ten and Misha helped me weed the flowers in the front yard.” He nodded at the bags. “I see you and Coral were productive this morning.”

“Yeah, got your stuff. Spent some time at a tea place. Got Coral clothes.”

He looked interested in the clothes. Him and his brother, always concerned about making sure the girls had coordinated clothing. Scorpio fought a losing battle with Misha, because their eldest just threw on whatever seemed good to her, whether or not she matched. Maybe he was hoping Coral would care a little bit more about matching colors and patterns. Probably not. As happy as Coral was, she definitely had strong opinions, even at only six months old.

Scorpio got out the bag with Coral’s lunch. “You get carrots today.”

Echidna turned to Misha and leaned down, kissing the top of her head. “Your picture looks really good,” she said softly.

Misha looked up. She looked better rested too.

“Coral likes purple and you like purple, so I put a lot of purple.” Misha glanced back at her picture and then at Echidna again. “Maybe I can stay home from school tomorrow too?”

Echidna caught Scorpio’s eye, really not sure what to say to that. A piece of her wanted to let Misha just stay home from school. She was bright, good grades, got all her work done. And she was already a year ahead in school. Missing class time probably wouldn’t hurt her. But this problem seemed like something that could easily be solved, maybe as simple as putting Misha in another class.

“I don’t know, baby girl,” she replied honestly. “School is important. That’s your job right now, remember?”

“I know,” Misha mumbled. “School was fun last year. It’s not fun this year.”

“Misha,” Scorpio started. “Do you tell your teacher when the other kids are mean?”

She looked down. “I told her they won’t play with me. She said I should ask them to.”

“Did you tell her they said they can’t play with you?”

Misha’s eyes were bright and she looked a little lost. “Should I have said that?”

Echidna pulled Misha close, hugging her for a moment. “Baby girl, don’t worry about that. I’m going to talk to your teacher this afternoon.”

Scorpio’s expression clearly said, _you are_? She gave him a look to drop that part now and she’d circle back around later.

Misha hugged her back. “I don’t think it will help,” she mumbled.

“That’s the first thing we have to try,” Echidna replied. “Remember how we told you things have to go in the right order?” A nod. “So we do this, and if things don’t get better, we do something else.”

“They don’t have to be friends with me,” Misha mumbled. “I just want them to leave me alone.”

“Misha,” Scorpio asked her seriously, “Do they do anything other than yell at you?”

She shook her head. “No. They just yell.”

Okay, at least her daughter’s physical safety wasn’t being compromised. Echidna squeezed her one last time and gently eased her away. “Take your headphones to school tomorrow. Then you can listen to music instead of them.” She brushed Misha’s hair out of her eyes. “And Tou-chan will make you chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. And if you get through tomorrow and Friday, you and I will go out this weekend and we’ll get new colors for your hair, maybe some clothes. Does that sound fun?”

Misha nodded.

The wait staff brought their food to the table. Scorpio thanked them, while Echidna gave them a tight smile. Even after all these years and practice, interacting with employees at businesses made her uneasy, especially when she’d been out and about and interacting all morning. Echidna looked at what they ordered. The peanut butter and chocolate ice creams were for Scorpio and Misha, while the strawberry ice cream had to be hers. The tiny chicken tender basket with fries was clearly for Misha, although Coral did make a noise and attempt to reach for a fry.

“No,” Scorpio told the baby. “When you’re older.”

He’d gotten them the black bean burgers with a side of potato wedges.

After the finished eating, Scorpio put on the sling and got the baby settled, while Echidna picked up the diaper bag and shopping, and herded Misha out of the booth. Misha walked slightly ahead of them, so Scorpio asked in an undertone, “You’re going to talk to her teacher?”

Echidna sighed. “I didn’t decide I was doing that until I said it.”

Scorpio let out a breath. “It’s not a bad idea, but is she even available today?”

“She is. I sent her a message during lunch, and she replied that I could come by after school ended.”

“You want me to come along?”

“No.” She reached out and squeezed Scorpio’s hand. “You’re the star volunteer, who’s always so understanding about everything. I want to be able to get… _firm_ … with her without you being dragged into it.”

Scorpio squeezed back, threading their fingers together. “I am guilty by association, whether or not I am physically present, you know that, right?”

“Well, she can start rumors about not knowing why you put up with me.”

He snorted. “I don’t think you would enjoy those rumors.”

“Are you telling me Stinger never started those rumors?”

“Stinger knows I would beat him in a fight. He wouldn’t dare.” Scorpio smiled and added, “And Naga wouldn’t let him.”

“You talk to Stinger this week?” Echidna asked, effectively changing the subject. She didn’t really want to talk through a plan for discussing this with the teacher. She was just going to go in, guns blazing, no plan and hope for the best. Because this was her _daughter_ and there was no way some oblivious teacher was going to get away with letting her daughter be bullied. Sometimes she thought about life in the Ophiuchus System, and how orderly school and training had been. No behavior problems from anyone, ever. No one was excluded. They all looked and acted the same. But out here with the choices and messy emotions… she never would have met Scorpio had she not been exiled. She wouldn’t have her daughters. Hell, she wouldn’t have been able to have the lunch she just did. Everything was loud and chaotic, but she could choose, her daughters could choose. No one was going to tell them what to do or what to be. _That_ was what she’d come to appreciate the most.

“Yeah,” Scorpio replied, going along with the subject change easily. “Akane is completely over her ear infection and doing better. Naga still feels pretty off, but no one else is sick, so Stinger just thinks he needs rest.” He paused. “Which reminds me, we’re taking all the girls to the farmer’s market on Sunday morning.”

“Why? Stinger planning something romantic for once in his life?”

Scorpio snorted a laugh. “I have no idea, but we did promise to take the nieces to give them a little alone time and they like the farmer’s market.”

“Double stroller,” Echidna groaned.

“You can take the stroller and park somewhere quiet with the babies, and I’ll handle the older girls and their antics. You know that.”

“They’re all going to want face painting and cookies.”

“You don’t have a problem with that.”

Echidna glowered. “Just let me be dramatic for a minute.”

“Always.” He gave her a sidelong look, watching Misha walking in front of them. “Hey,” he asked seriously. “Are you really going to be okay with all this teacher stuff?”

“Yes. I am fucking done with this bullshit, and it better change.”

She hoped.

\-----------------

Echidna’s hands were shaking as she sat in the car outside the school and punched the speed dial button to call Naga. She raised the phone to her ear.

Naga picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Echidna,” he greeted.

“I fucked up,” she ground out.

“You what?” Naga sounded confused.

“I fucked up,” she repeated with more emphasis.

“Do you need me to pick you up?”

“No,” she said sharply, thoughts screeching to a halt. “Wait… what? I’m not in trouble! I mean, I am, but not _that_ kind of trouble.”

“Okay,” Naga replied slowly. “Then why do you think you fucked up?”

“I talked to Misha’s teacher.”

“And? Did she help with the problems?”

“No, not really.”

“Then what happened?”

Echidna thought back to the conversation, wincing internally. She was pissed off about how the conversation had gone, and even more pissed that the teacher managed to turn the tables on her.

_“Some other parents have… concerns… about your daughter.”_

_“What kind of concerns?”_

_“Nothing serious. She’s well behaved in class and does her work.”_

_“Then what?”_

_“Well, I shouldn’t say concerns about your daughter. Concerns about you and your husband.”_

_“What about us? What do we have to do with other kids being shitty to our daughter?”_

_“A couple parents in the class used to work for Rebellion, so they know your husband by reputation.”_

_“Oh for fuck’s sake, just spit it out. They know he was brainwashed by Jark Matter! He’s gotten a full pardon for all of that and completed the unfreezing program, even though none of that is any of your concern or theirs.”_

_“And they are aware of your past in the Ophiuchus System.”_

_“Are you fucking kidding me? Is nothing confidential there?”_

_“Your husband volunteers a lot, so they’ve gotten to know him. But you don’t.”_

_“What are you saying?”_

_“Maybe try to be present, let the other parents get to know you.”_

_“They have no right to get their kids to bully mine!”_

_“I know, and I’m glad you brought that to my attention. I’ll do everything I can to stop that. But I just think that you being present might help.”_

_“Present doing precisely what?”_

“I have to plan the class Halloween party!” she blurted.

Naga paused for a long moment and asked carefully, “You’re doing what now?”

“You heard me!”

“How? Why?” She could almost hear Naga shake his head. “I’m at home, why don’t you come by the house for a little bit? Stinger made some of the mint iced tea that you really like.”

“Naga, this is bad. I don’t know how to plan a kids’ party!”

“Echidna, I’m not actually the one you should talk to. Stinger’s the expert on that.”

“No,” she groaned, holding out the word. “I don’t want Stinger’s help.” She tacked on, “And apparently some of the other parents in Misha’s class used to work for Rebellion and have extremely loose lips.”

“What do you mean?”

“They all know Scorpio was brainwashed by Jark Matter and that I used to be an assassin.”

Naga was silent for a long moment, before he said quietly and evenly, “Echidna, I am going to need the roster for Misha’s class, including the parent phone list. Everyone who works for Rebellion signs a legal document that holds them accountable for the rest of their lives to not share confidential information. Everything about you and Scorpio would have been confidential. Rebellion can and will take legal action against them.”

Echidna opened and closed her mouth a few times. For a moment, she couldn’t think or process or put together what any of those pieces meant, before she choked out, “Legal action?”

“Rebellion will just need a signed statement from you, and then will interview the teacher. After that, Rebellion will handle everything.”

“Fuck.” She exhaled harshly. “What the fuck?”

“I will handle that. Raptor will be in touch with you soon. Just come over to the house. We’ll talk about things.”

She finally had to admit in a tiny voice, “Naga, I’m really scared.”

“Echidna, everything will be fine. I will protect you and your entire family.” He paused, and then tossed out, “And don’t worry about the Halloween party. I will make Stinger help you. You can argue with him about party favors and games.”

“Are you saying I get to argue with Stinger and no one will tell me to stop?”

“Yes.”

She tried to come up with a snarky response, but burst into tears instead.

“Echidna,” Naga said soothingly. “Take a deep breath. It’s going to be okay.”

“Did I ruin things for Misha?”

“No. You and Scorpio and Misha have done nothing wrong.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Take a deep breath. Come over to the house. I will handle things.” She heard some shuffling and Naga said to Stinger (she assumed), “Call your brother and have him come over here with the girls.” A pause and, “Yes, we’ll feed everyone. Order pizza.” He was back on the line properly with her, and asked, “Are you okay to drive?”

She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

“Good. Get over here.” He paused, and said emphatically, “I will handle this. Just let me take care of this for you.”

“Okay.”

They said their goodbyes and disconnected the call.

Echidna tried to steady herself.

In spite of everything, she really did believe Naga would take care of things.

\-----------------

That night, Echidna didn’t even take a shower or put on pajamas, she just flopped face first onto their bed and wrapped her arms around her pillow. Holy fuck, how had this blown up in her face? She’d gone to the school just to straighten out the teacher and figure out if they needed to move Misha to another class. This felt so much worse, even though Naga—and Stinger and Raptor and Balance—all said none of them was their fault and they would handle the situation.

When she got to Naga’s house, Scorpio had already gotten there with the girls. Misha and Kaliya were playing in the treehouse in the backyard. She could hear them listening to some kiddie pop music along with their muffled voices through the screen door, which had been open to let in the cool breeze. Mika had been up in her room, working on homework, according to Stinger. Coral and Akane were both sitting in an oversized playpen, not really interacting with each other, but playing with their own toys and making noises. Akane seemed a lot calmer than when they were on vacation, giggling and laughing. Clearly over her ear infection.

Scorpio had been sitting at the table with Naga and Stinger. He looked up when she got there and stood up, meeting her across the room and pulling her into a hard hug. She responded, still shaking a little, clinging to him the familiarity and how much she loved him and their daughters. He pressed a quick, but firm kiss to her lips. She hung on as long as she dared in front of an audience, but still released him a little quickly. He pushed her hair behind her ear. “Raptor and Balance will be here in half an hour or so. Sit down. Stinger made iced tea.”

“I ordered you a pepperoni, black olive and mushroom pizza,” Stinger added as she sat down.

All she could manage was a tight smile.

Technically, she knew who Raptor and Balance were, just didn’t know them _well_. Both Kyurangers. Balance was Naga’s best friend, the one who tried to break into the Ophiuchus System that Naga ran away with. Mechanical, loud as hell, but loved Naga like a brother and all Naga’s kids were his godchildren. He loved all the little girls, spoiling them rotten and driving Stinger nuts by giving them candy and extravagant presents (especially ones that played music or made lots of noise.) Once Echidna and Scorpio became a couple, she’d gotten to know Balance a little, but even more once Misha came and Balance just seemed to include her with Naga’s kids, like she was his godchild too.

When Misha and Kaliya were toddlers, Balance had finally come back to Earth on assignment with Rebellion, with the intent of splitting his time there and on missions. He got to reconnect with Raptor, who Echidna had only met a handful of times. Android, high-ranking official in Rebellion, worked for Stinger until he retired from Rebellion, apparently thought she was great at giving makeovers. Her and Balance got into a whirlwind romance and got married, which was kind of sweet. Raptor wanted to be romanced and Balance did a lot of romancing. Now they split their time between Rebellion bases on Earth and going to other planets to help with aid or Rebellion infrastructure.

And now they were coming to the house to deal with ex-Rebellion employees with loose lips.

Scorpio held her hand.

Naga went through her entire statement, recording their conversation on his datapad. He had her thumbprint the official transcript. Scorpio had already given him the class list with parent contact information. Naga reported that Raptor and Balance were just finishing at the school with the teacher and would be at the house soon.

Why the fuck was this happening to them?

Raptor hugged her the moment she arrived. Echidna was taken aback, hadn’t really been aware they were that close. But she guessed Misha had been a flower girl in Raptor’s wedding and Raptor seemed to enjoy doting on the girls as much, if not more, than Balance.

“Balance-jii-chan!” was the chorus the moment the girls realized Balance was there.

“Who wants presents?” Balance announced in a singsong tone.

“How does he have presents for them?” Scorpio asked in an undertone, “He didn’t even know he’d be over here tonight.”

Naga shrugged. “I think he keeps a stash of presents and brings them whenever he comes over.”

Raptor sat down at the table with them. “He does, actually.”

Balance was in the living room playing with the girls and giving them presents. Echidna glanced at Misha, who seemed to have gotten a purple plush animal of some kind—oh, one of those ugly medium-sized monster dolls she really liked. Those were supposed to be weighted too, and basically felt like a hug. Maybe the thing would help with Misha’s nightmares. Echidna hoped. Misha looked gleefully at the purple monster and hugged the plush close. She didn’t see what he gave Mika and Kaliya, but did notice that he gave both babies light-up rattles. Lovely.

Then Balance had the three older girls in the backyard where they were going “treasure hunting.”

Raptor didn’t attempt to get him to the table, “We just got the teacher’s statement,” Raptor reported. “And I am so sorry this happened to you both. This is unacceptable from Rebellion employees, former and current.”

“I don’t want to cause trouble,” Echidna said in a small voice. Scorpio wrapped an arm around her shoulders, kissing her temple, holding her close.

“You’re not,” Raptor replied firmly. “Now I just need to go over your statement and make sure everything is in order. Balance will handle the legal side with our attorneys. He’s an expert in intergalactic law.”

Echidna didn’t mean to blurt the next sentence, but she did. “He is?”

“Yes,” Naga said with a smile. “Believe it or not, he studied and practiced law for decades before giving that up and becoming a thief.”

She blinked. “I’m going to need more information later.”

They finished everything with Raptor, and Naga got her and Balance to agree to stay for dinner. Misha had her new purple monster in her lap as she ate her pizza. Her and Kaliya were sitting next to each other, and Echidna realized how grateful she was for their close friendship. They really were best friends and she was glad her daughter had someone like that in her life. And she found herself incredibly glad that they were close with Naga and Stinger. Even if Stinger did drive her nuts.

Naga still looked a little pale and tired, and only ate one piece of cheese pizza.

Before they left, Echidna asked Naga, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

He waved away her concern. “I’m fine. Stupid lingering side effects from the stomach bug.” He paused and added, “But I’m not contagious. I promise.”

“I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about you.”

“Echidna, I’m good. I will tell you if something is wrong.”

She didn’t quite believe him, but now was really not the time to harangue him into giving her more details. Naga would say whatever was bothering him when he was ready. And Akane seemed a lot better, which had definitely helped both Stinger’s and Naga’s moods. Which reminded Echidna that they were dragging all the kids to the farmer’s market this weekend. She had glanced at her phone right before they left and saw six messages from Stinger, all with links to kids’ Halloween party ideas.

“Do you have no chill?” she snapped at him.

He just gave her a shit-eating grin. “No. This will be fun.”

“I hate you.”

“I know. But this party will be cute!”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Can we meet for coffee on Friday and plan?” They arranged a coffee shop and a time.

Now, she heard Scorpio come into the room. He sat down on the bed next to her and started slowly rubbing her back. She made a pleased noise and mumbled, “Girls asleep?”

“Coral’s been down for an hour. Misha was out when I left. Had her bear and her monster.”

“She lay out her clothes and backpack for school?”

“Yes, she did.” Scorpio paused and asked, “You okay?”

She let out a long breath. “I should be asking you that.”

She heard him sigh. “I think we’ll be okay. Just have to see how this plays out at school. Balance said cease and desist orders would arrive tonight.”

“I’m afraid it’s going to get worse for Misha.”

“Maybe we should start looking for a new school for her?”

“No one enrolls midyear.”

“We can still look.”

Echidna rolled over to her side to look at him. “How did this get so out of control?”

“Beautiful, nothing is out of control. Trust Raptor and Balance. Trust _Naga_. They’ll take care of this.”

She sat up, letting out a long breath again, and then giving him a sidelong look. “You know what else? We haven’t had sex in a week. That only happens when one of us is really stressed.”

Scorpio’s face broke into a grin, the first full smile she’d seen on him in days. He nudged her a little bit, fingers playing with the hem of her shirt. “Are you asking?” he teased.

“Yes,” she retorted. “Do I need to strip and do a dance to be more obvious to you?”

“Now that you mention it—”

She cut off whatever snarky comment he’d been about to make and pulled him into a bruising kiss, deep and satisfying, completely full of teeth and tongues and heat, and all the closeness and fire she’d been missing this entire time. Funny how just a few days without sex made her miss that closeness, that intimacy, even more. She climbed into his lap, cupping his face. One hand of his ran up the back of her shirt and the other wrapped around her waist, hauling her even closer to him. She made a desperate noise into the kiss and pressed as close as possible. He was so warm and beautiful and _hers_.

In the end, they didn’t even get all their clothes off.

She unbuckled his belt and got his pants undone, just enough to get his cock out.

He got her tits out quickly and efficiently, and just hiked her skirt up to her waist, while she slid off her panties. She stayed in his lap, riding him. One hand teased at her breasts, while the other slide to her ass, squeezing and helping her keep the rhythm. She got a hand under his shirt, teasing his nipples, pressing kisses down his neck. Their breathing was erratic, bodies hot and sweaty and close and she lost herself in the pleasure and the heat.

Finally, she came, slumping against him, feeling him come mere seconds after her.

“I love you,” she murmured to Scorpio.

“I love you too, beautiful.”

“Fuck me in the shower?”

“Anything you want.”

_This_ felt normal. Maybe they would be okay.

She just wasn’t sure.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, everyone! I really appreciate all your kudos and comments! Drop me a note and let me know you're out there! (Or send an ask on tumblr.) Continuing shout-out and appreciation to 8bitstrawberrie for her support on this piece. Thanks everyone!


	3. Hurricane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Kaliya's birthday party, some things are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go with chapter three everyone! Enjoy!

**Chapter Three: Hurricane**

_In the eye of a hurricane there is quiet for just a moment…_

The sun had not risen yet when Echidna heard Coral crying on the baby monitor. She groaned, blinking a few times. The room was gray, no sunlight yet, but the moon had set. Scorpio also inhaled sharply, stretching a little bit. “Early for her,” he mumbled.

Echidna rolled away from the warmth of his body and swung her legs over the side of the bed, sitting up. “I’ll get her,” she said softly.

Scorpio look up at her. “You sure?”

“Yeah. She probably just needs a diaper change and will go back to sleep.” She gently nudged him. “Go back to sleep.”

She looked back for a moment as she pulled on her nightgown and went to the door of their room. Scorpio rolled back to his side and pulled the blankets back to his shoulders. He looked peaceful, eyes closed, black hair tousled from sleep. Even just out of bed, he looked so good. The nightmares were continuing and she felt bad that some nights she slept through them. No one seemed to be doing well right now. She hated this entire situation.

Naga had said that Raptor and Balance were working on the case and he couldn’t say much because of confidentiality issues, but things were happening. Misha had reported that the other kids weren’t yelling at her so much anymore, just leaving her alone and she was able to read. The first day back at school, one of the kids broke her headphones. The teacher sent them a message with the name of the kid, saying that their parents would reimburse them. Echidna really didn’t care about the money. More that another kid had grabbed something that wasn’t theirs and broken the item. Misha had been upset and cried about the headphones on the way home, until Balance stopped by with some news and helped her pick out a new pair. The new headphones were purple and had cat ears and lit up.

She went upstairs and into Coral’s room. By the time she got there, the baby’s cries had died down to whimpers. They had a soft, yellow nightlight in Coral’s room and Echidna saw the baby whining a little bit in her crib. Echidna reached down, gently stroking the baby’s hair. “What’s the matter, baby girl?” Echidna asked her. “You can’t sleep either?”

Coral scrunched up her face and let out another cry.

“Okay,” Echidna told her. “Okay.” She picked up the baby and checked her diaper. Well this was an easy problem to solve. Coral needed a new diaper. Then she could get her back down.

Getting the baby cleaned up and ready to sleep again went quickly. Once her diaper was clean, Coral settled down, yawning again. Echidna sat down in the rocking chair in her room with her, rocking her slowly. “I know, Coral,” she murmured. “Things are hard right now. Onee-chan is still having a hard time at school. Tou-chan isn’t sleeping well.” Coral made a tiny cooing noise, eyes closed. “I know, you just want your applesauce and the plaid bunny that Tou-chan made for you.” She felt herself involuntarily smile at her younger daughter. “Maybe we should be taking a page out of your book. You seem to have things pretty well figured out right now.”

Coral was asleep, breathing evenly. She got the baby settled back in her crib, plaid bunny watching over her. Echidna stared at her for a moment.

Maybe they should move. Start all over again in a new place.

That idea utterly terrified her. She hated change.

But if that would help Misha… hell, she’d do anything for her daughters.

No point in making decisions at four in the morning.

She left Coral’s room and stopped by Misha’s room. Her door was partially open. She gently pushed the door open and looked in on her oldest. She was sound asleep, her purple monster plush from Balance against her back and her arms wrapped around her lavender teddy bear. Good. Misha needed some decent sleep.

Back down in their bedroom, she slipped off her nightgown and got back in bed. She reached out, gently rubbing Scorpio’s back. “You awake?” she asked softly.

“Yeah,” he replied, shifting a little.

“You okay?”

He was quiet too long. Echidna moved closer, pressing against his back and putting her arm around his waist. They stayed that way for a moment, and she concentrated on his breathing. Things felt quiet and thoughtful and _calm_ for the first time in two weeks. Scorpio was struggling with everything, more about what was happening with Misha and less about all the legal proceedings Rebellion was undertaking. Echidna worried the parents would get worse, but so far things had reached a stalemate. She knew he was talking to his therapist about the nightmares, trying to get that under control.

“Not really,” he finally admitted. Echidna didn’t say anything, just waited. After a long moment, he added, “I just wonder if the girls would be better off without me.”

“ _None_ of us would be better off without you.”

“ _I_ am the reason that those parents started gossiping.”

“They had dirt on me too. None of that is on us. Those people are assholes.”

He sighed. “I know that. Logically, I know that. Doesn’t change how I feel.” He covered her hand with his own, drawing her a little closer. “I have to get this under control. My therapist wants me to go back on the meds for a little bit.”

“You start them yet?”

“Tomorrow. And will take a few days to kick in.”

“Scorpio, I want you to be okay. Whatever you need. You know that, right?”

“Yes,” he breathed. “I’m sorry, Echidna.”

“Stop it,” she said firmly. “I love you. Shit happens. How often do you support me through anxiety and hating social situations and arguing with your damned brother? You can’t do everything on your own. It’s okay to admit that you need help.”

“I know.” He paused. “Trust me, I know that.” He threaded their fingers together. “You ready to suffer through a birthday party for seven-year-olds?”

Echidna groaned, allowing him to change the subject. “Kaliya has always just wanted a special day with her and Misha and another friend. Why did she pick this year to have the birthday party with a bunch of random kids?”

“They’re not random kids. I think most of them are on her softball team and don’t go to their school.”

She sighed. “Misha didn’t seem excited to go and she’s always excited for Kaliya’s birthday.”

“Maybe she’s not excited because Kaliya changed the format?”

“But she still gets to go out with Kaliya for her birthday.”

Scorpio rolled over, pulling Echidna into his arms. “You forget that your daughter is like you. She hates change.”

Echidna exhaled sharply. “Maybe make her some chocolate chip pancakes and bribe her into trying to have fun at the party?”

“Not a bad idea.”

She snuggled against Scorpio, adjusting the blankets around them. For a while, she just listened to his breathing, slowing and eventually evening out as he fell back asleep. In spite of the early hour, she felt wide awake, no longer able to sleep. When Coral had been a little younger, she would be able to go back to sleep immediately after taking care of the baby. Now, her thoughts would not turn off and she was too busy _worrying_ about everything. Misha, Scorpio, Naga… hell, Coral and Stinger were about the only two people she wasn’t worried about, and Stinger had gotten damned annoying with his ‘help’ for the stupid Halloween party. That Misha didn’t know Echidna was in charge of.

Eventually, the light in the room changed from gray to yellow, still dim, but the sun was rising. She let Scorpio sleep as she took a quick shower and grabbed the baby monitor, heading into the kitchen. Coral was asleep. The house was still and quiet at this hour. Peaceful. She put on a pot of coffee to brew and glanced into the kitchen cabinets, making sure they actually had the chocolate chips to put in the pancakes for Misha. Yes, chocolate chips in the cupboard.

She sat at the table with a mug of coffee, thoughts far away.

“Kaa-chan?”

Echidna looked up as Misha shuffled into the room, still wearing her pajamas. “Morning, baby girl,” she greeted her, stifling a yawn. “You excited about Kaliya’s birthday party today?”

Misha pulled a face as she climbed into the chair next to Echidna. “I don’t really want to go to the party.” She looked at her, eyes wide. “Can we just drop our present off?”

“Are you upset Kaliya invited other kids?”

“No,” Misha replied immediately. “Some of those kids are okay.”

“Some of them aren’t?”

“Some of them know the kids in my class who were mean to me.”

“Which ones?”

Misha named three kids. Echidna stood up and went into the kitchen, grabbing her phone from the charger. She called over her shoulder, “Tou-chan will make chocolate pancakes when he gets up in a few minutes. You want some juice or yogurt until then?” Misha nodded. Echidna got a small bottle of orange juice and a container of strawberry banana yogurt. She pulled a spoon from the drawer and gave all the items to Misha.

Leaning against the counter, she sent a message to Naga. At the rate Akane woke up early, she figured Naga would be awake.

And he was.

His request was simple. _Which kids?_

She told him and he replied with, _I’ll take care of it._

Echidna had extremely mixed feelings about telling Naga all this, but the feeling that won out was the anger at _grown-ass adults_ who would use their _children_ to bully and isolate another child because they were fucking scared. Who the fuck did things like that? What in the hell did they possibly think they were going to gain by that behavior? Get them to take their daughter out of the class? Out of the school? They fucking lived here too.

She’d known for a long time that they would eventually have to find a school that was a better fit for Misha, especially since she was a grade ahead and would need different things. But she’d thought she could at least have a few years of being in the same school as Kaliya. They liked going to school together and coming home together, stopping at someone’s house, getting to play more often. That was really the reason they said the pair couldn’t see in the same class—didn’t want them getting sick of each other. Fuck, maybe they should already be looking at other schools for Misha. But who in the hell would be enrolling midyear? No one, that’s who.

“Morning.”

Scorpio came into the kitchen, giving her a quick, firm kiss. He hugged Misha, kissing the top of her head. “Morning, Tou-chan,” Misha replied mournfully.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“I don’t want to go to Kaliya’s party.”

Scorpio went into the kitchen, getting out the things to make chocolate chip pancakes. “Kaliya is family and your best friend,” he said neutrally. “Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want in order to support your family.”

“Like what?”

“Like Kaa-chan thinks Christmas with Jii-chan is too noisy but goes anyways.”

Misha smiled a little at that. “Christmas is fun!”

“Yes, and it’s our family. So she goes. Kaliya is your family and her birthday party is important to her, so you need to go to support her.”

Her little face furrowed in a frown.

“And,” Echidna added. “We’ll be there too. You can sit with us if anything happens.”

Misha turned that information over a little and finally said, “Okay.”

Scorpio started mixing the pancake batter in a bowl, while Echidna read the latest message from Naga, which was, “Naga said they’re having pizza for an early lunch and we can eat with them.”

He nodded. “Great. I can help Stinger with the cupcakes I know he’s not done with.”

Echidna winced. “How fancy are these cupcakes?”

“Kaliya likes mermaids and Stinger found a recipe.”

“Let me guess, he should have asked for Spada’s help.”

“Oh, he should have asked for Spada’s help before he even had the thought.”

Echidna laughed. Fucking Stinger.

\-------------------

The day was nice for a backyard birthday party. Clear skies, mild temperature, tiny breeze, enough to cool down running children but not enough to blow paper plates or napkins off the table. Echidna sat in a lawn chair on the porch, watching the kids play in a makeshift ball pit, while sipping a glass of wine. They’d arrived at lunchtime as planned and eaten with Stinger and Naga and the girls. Scorpio and Stinger disappeared into the kitchen to finish the cupcakes, while Naga put out the final touches on the tables outside. Which left Echidna nothing to do except drink wine and wonder how in the hell Stinger and Naga pulled off parties like this. Scorpio might have been able to, but Misha wasn’t interested.

Speaking of Misha, she sat on the bottom rung of the ladder to the treehouse, close enough to hear the party, but not really participating. Kaliya had gone over a few times and tried to get her to join them, but Misha had shaken her head and held her teddy bear close.

“She’s still not playing?”

Echidna looked up as Scorpio came out, cradling Coral to his chest and sitting in the chair next to her. “No, and Kaliya’s tried a few times.” She shook her head and asked, “Did Stinger say anything about the kids that they un-invited?”

“Not a lot, just that he thought it was the right thing to do, and if they’d known, they would not have invited those kids. Kaliya also said she hadn’t really wanted to invite them but felt like she needed to invite her softball teammates.”

Echidna looked out at Kaliya. “She’s a good kid.”

“They all are.” Scorpio bounced Coral a little. “Except for this one who suddenly doesn’t want to nap with her cousin.”

She turned to the baby. “Coral,” Echidna started. “You like hanging out with Akane. What’s going on with you today?”

Misha got up from the treehouse ladder and came over to them on the porch. She leaned against Echidna, looking miserable. She smoothed down the stray strands that were coming out of her braids. Misha reached out and patted Coral’s arm.

“What’s wrong, baby girl?” Scorpio asked her.

“I feel bad.”

“About what?” Echidna gently prompted her.

Misha shrugged. “Some of the kids aren’t here.”

“Did Kaliya say she was disappointed by that?”

“No, she said they were kind of mean and it’s better they aren’t here.”

“So trust Kaliya. She wouldn’t lie to you.”

Echidna wrapped Misha up into a hug. Misha hugged her back for a long moment. Kaliya was looking at them from across the yard, brow furrowed. She made a move like she was going to get up and see if Misha was okay, but Echidna just gestured at her to go back to the ball pit. Kaliya looked unsure, but complied.

“Misha,” Echidna started. “You’re supposed to be having fun today. How can you have fun if you aren’t playing with all the other kids?”

She heard the back screen door open and saw Naga come outside from the corner of her eye. He set down a bowl of popcorn on the table and then came over to them. He gently eased Misha away from Echidna and got down on her level. “What’s wrong, Misha?” he asked softly and neutrally. Echidna admired the way Naga could be so calm and impassive with the kids—he didn’t rise to meet their emotional level, he just quietly helped them deal with whatever their problem was and got them back to an equilibrium.

Misha looked down, but told Naga, “Kaliya said it’s okay the other kids didn’t end up coming to the party but is it really okay?”

Naga smiled a little. “Yes, it is completely okay.” He stood up and took her hand. “Come on, I need your help with some stuff in the kitchen.” He led Misha into the house. Echidna watched them go and then turned back to Scorpio.

“How is he always so calm with the kids? They make me nervous when they cry.”

Scorpio smiled. “You always go to the dark side and think there’s something really wrong. Naga understands that they’re just kids, with emotions that they can’t really name or process, and sometimes they just need a calm, safe space to process things.”

“I don’t want her to be unhappy.”

“We can’t protect her from everything.” He paused. “Maybe we should start looking for a new school for her.”

“No one’s going to be enrolling midyear,” Echidna replied mournfully.

“I know, but we should still look. She’s smart, ahead of the others. She needs something different.”

She glanced over at Scorpio, smiling. “She does.” She smirked a little. “How did we make such an amazing kid?”

He returned the smile, looking like himself for the first time in days. “We’re just really amazing, I guess.”

Echidna looked at the other kids at the birthday party. This situation was not her scene at all, but she wanted her daughters to have normal stuff. Misha usually liked going to parties like this. But she always did prefer a smaller group for her birthday—special day with treats she only got on her birthday, usually with Kaliya and maybe one other friend. Kaliya was bright, but Naga and Stinger hadn’t elected to move her ahead in school at this point. She was their artist—crafts, sewing, painting, sculpting, if the things involved art or handcrafts of any kind, Kaliya was there. She was going to be the artist in the family. Mika loved science and math. And the babies? Well, who knew with the babies right now? Coral liked teal and orange things, and seemed to think pineapple baby food was the best.

Speaking of, Coral had fallen asleep against Scorpio.

“Want to see if you can get her down in the playpen?”

Scorpio nodded and stood up slowly, not waking the baby. He equally as slowly walked back into the house. Echidna watched him go. A moment after he disappeared into the house, Misha came out the back door, handed Echidna her bear, and made a beeline for the kids in the ball pit. Kaliya grinned and immediately hugged her. Naga followed her out and set more snacks on the table.

“Need some help?” Echidna asked him.

“Sure,” he replied, motioning her into the house. She set the bear down and followed him.

Inside, the house was dim and cool and _quiet_. The kids squealing over the ball pit and whatever else seemed like a distant memory. She followed Naga into the kitchen. The cupcakes were sitting on the counter and she had to admit, even without Spada’s help, Stinger and Scorpio had managed to do a decent job. They were cute, no professional grade, but still recognizable as mermaids and something Kaliya would love. All pink and purple with iridescent sprinkles. Distantly, she could hear Scorpio leave the playpen in the living room and go back out onto the back porch.

“What do you need help with?” she asked.

Naga motioned to the cutting board, where chopped vegetables were piled. “Put those on the platter with some hummus and ranch,” he instructed. The platter was nearby, so Echidna washed her hands and did what Naga asked, neatly dividing the vegetables by type into the little compartments.

“Is this for the kids too?”

“No,” Naga replied with a smile. “Our kids will eat them, but those are for the grown-ups.”

Echidna glanced out the window, watching Stinger direct the party fun.

“Does he need a break?”

Naga followed her gaze and smiled, “No, he’s fine. He’ll crash after the party, but he likes being out there with the kids.”

She gave Naga a sidelong look. “Thanks,” she said softly. “For everything. All those parents at the school and today.”

Naga shrugged. “You’re family and there’s no way I’m tolerating Rebellion employees behaving that badly.”

“Misha was worried about the kids you uninvited today.”

“ _I’m_ not. And Kaliya’s not. Stinger thought they were all little brats and made the calls himself.”

“ _Stinger_ called their parents?” She shook her head, glancing out the window once more. “I know he and I have our differences, but he really comes through when he needs to, doesn’t he?”

Naga didn’t reply. She cut her gaze back to him. He looked at the fruit he was chopping, downcast and a little pale. Echidna frowned, not sure why talking about Stinger or him not being annoying for once would be hard for Naga.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

Echidna finished putting the vegetables on the platter and walked over to Naga, grabbing the paring knife from him and tossing the thing in the sink. “Stop it,” she told him. “Just stop. Something’s been off with you for weeks and you won’t tell anyone anything. And now you’re getting all weird when I pay Stinger a compliment. What the fuck is going on?”

She had been expecting a lot of reactions, and had been anticipating continued denial that anything was wrong. So she was utterly shocked when Naga just started crying.

“Oh shit,” she breathed. “I’m sorry. Oh fuck. What’s wrong?”

Naga shook his head. “I was really stupid.”

“Stupid?” she narrowed her eyes. “Are you having an affair?”

_That_ question stopped Naga right in his tracks. He looked confused. “An affair? No, why would—I would _never_ do that to Stinger!”

“Then what?”

Naga pushed out a breath. “I went to the doctor a while ago and she said that my implant was an older model and needed to be upgraded with the latest software. But the updates would take a couple of days to complete. Like full overhaul updates.”

Echidna blinked, realization dawning. “Did you fuck Stinger while the implant was off?”

Naga nodded.

“Why?” she asked, realizing she sounded harsh, but then dug herself into a hole deeper and blurted, “Holy shit, you’re pregnant!”

“Echidna!” Naga hissed. “Lower your voice. Stinger doesn’t know!”

“You haven’t told him?” But she had so many questions, she continued with, “Why the hell would you fuck him when the implant was off?”

“I thought we could just do other stuff and we did, but I’m not bouncing back from Akane and just felt awful and ugly and wanted him to _want_ me.”

She made a rude noise. “Stinger always wants you. He’s a weird horndog for you.” She paused and tacked on, “It’s not weird that he’s horny for you. Just that he’s weird.”

“I know what you mean,” Naga cut her off, wiping away a tear.

“Naga,” Echidna told him seriously. “What you did was particularly stupid.”

“I know!” he retorted, biting back a sob. “It just took us weeks to conceive each of the girls—two or three months, really. So I thought… once wouldn’t hurt.”

“And Stinger agreed to that?”

Naga actually flushed at the question. “No,” he admitted. “I didn’t tell him the implant was off.”

“You… what?”

“I know!” Naga cried. “But then the software update finished and it came back online and said there was a possibility I was pregnant, so I went to the doctor and she said I was but she needed to monitor if it was viable, but I could turn the implant back on and I didn’t want to do that, because what about the baby? But she confirmed, I am pregnant. The baby is healthy and I—"

“Naga,” Echidna interrupted. “Breath.” He took a deep breath. She leaned against the counter next to him and nudged him gently. Naga sniffed hard, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. “Why haven’t you told Stinger yet?” she asked softly.

“Because this isn’t the plan.”

“What plan?”

The question made Naga tear up again. “We want to have a fourth baby, but we wanted to wait until Akane is a little older. Not quite the gap between Kaliya and Akane, but still enough time for Akane to be potty trained and a little more independent.”

“So now you get a baby faster. Stinger won’t care.”

“He’ll be angry.”

“No,” Echidna corrected him. “Stinger won’t be angry about the pregnancy. He’ll be miffed you didn’t tell him about the implant or the pregnancy immediately, but he won’t be angry. That oaf would do fucking _anything_ for you and the girls. Why the hell would you think he’d be angry?”

“Because it’s not the _plan_.”

“Who the fuck cares about the plan? So you get the fourth kid a little sooner? So what? Scorpio fucking loves taking care of babies. You know he’ll help. I don’t want to take care of babies, but I will bring you wine or coffee or whatever the hell else you want.”

“I don’t know how to tell him.”

Echidna groaned. “Oh, fuck this. _I’ll_ tell him.”

“Don’t you dare!”

She nudged him again. “Come on, Naga. You need to tell him. You’ve been miserable for weeks. Think of all the time he’s missed making baby blankets!”

“Echidna, you don’t know him like I do.”

She snorted. “How long have I known that waste of space now? _Years_. I think I do know him.” She gave Naga an appraising look. She knew Naga didn’t want what she was about to say next, but he definitely needed a reality check. “Naga,” she added softly. “Do you _want_ to have this baby?”

He looked at her sharply. “I already said I am _not_ doing _that_.”

“Okay, chill out.” She threaded her arm through his. “I know you don’t, but you need to face some facts here. Stinger has to know.”

“I know,” Naga sighed. He glanced out the window. “He’ll just be angry.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, do you not listen to me? He will _not_ be angry.” Echidna pulled Naga into a hug, squeezing him tightly for a moment. “You are so in your own head right now,” she murmured. “You know we’ll help you, no matter what.” She tacked, “Besides, he probably suspects something but is just letting it rest with the stomach bug thing for now.”

“Stinger’s not dumb. Him suspecting would make this easier.” Naga hugged her back, then released her, turning to the food. “We should get the rest of this out there. Kids will want snacks and it’s almost time for the cupcakes.”

Echidna let him change the subject and turned back to arranging the vegetable platter with the dips. Stomach bug. She inwardly shook her head. Naga didn’t get sick, even with the small children around him. He took very good care of himself and made all the girls practice good hygiene. Sure, the kids got things that couldn’t be prevented, like ear infections, but they rarely got colds or stomach bugs or fevers or other things that plagued small children. Damn, she was slipping. She should _never_ have believed his continuing lie about his stomach being off. He had fucking morning sickness. Part of her strongly believed that Stinger had to suspect _something_. He knew Naga better than anyone, and he’d been through three pregnancies already with Naga. Perhaps Stinger did suspect that Naga was pregnant, but was waiting for Naga to say something? In that instance, he wouldn’t really be mad at all, just hurt that Naga didn’t tell him. But would immediately begin to plan for the baby. Their house had five bedrooms. No more guest room after this. Maybe Akane could share with the newest baby for a while?

She followed Naga outside with the rest of the food.

“You two okay?” Scorpio asked. “You were in there for a while.”

“Fine,” Echidna replied shortly, setting the food out and sitting in the chair next to Scorpio. She motioned to the baby monitor. “How are they?”

He showed her the screen. “Sound asleep.”

She leaned closer to him and he responded by wrapping his arm around her. She snuggled close for a moment, just savoring the warmth of his body, even how he smelled. She hated that he was struggling, but was eternally grateful he was asking for help. She looked out at the kids. Misha was in the thick of the party, playing in the ball pit with Kaliya, now wearing one of the flower crowns and giggling right along with the rest of the girls.

“Okay,” Echidna asked Scorpio, still snuggled up with him. “Which kid is which?”

She felt him smile. “Well, you know Misha and Kaliya.” She nudged him playfully. He pointed out the other four girls by the color of their clothing. Echidna promptly forgot their names, but Scorpio mentioned where Kaliya knew all of them from—softball mostly, but one went to painting classes with her and another was in her class at school. Vaguely, she could hear that girl and Kaliya talking to Misha about how cool being in the same class would be. Her heart broke a little bit. She’d asked the principal about moving Misha to another class, but she said not enough other items had been tried.

Stinger came over to the porch.

“Party’s going well,” Scorpio commented.

Naga was still fussing with the table. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Stinger give Naga a brief kiss. Naga smiled tightly in return. “I think so,” Stinger replied back to Scorpio. “This all looks great,” he told Naga.

“Cake time?” Naga asked.

“In a minute. They’re having fun right now.” He got a bottle of water from the cooler and took a sip. “Oh, we heard from Raptor.”

“Oh yeah?” Scorpio asked. “Anything good.”

“Yeah, things are wrapping up. Balance doesn’t mess around.” Stinger shook his head. “But he did dig up an interesting connection.”

Echidna glowered at him. “I suppose that’s as close as you can come to gossiping about it.”

Stinger gave her a shit-eating grin. “Let’s just say, don’t be surprised if Misha’s class is suddenly being taught by a long term sub on Monday.”

“Shit,” Echidna commented, drawing out the word.

Naga sighed dramatically. “You were not supposed to say even that much.”

“Oh come on!” Echidna wheedled. “Who am I going to tell? Scorpio? He’s right here! Hammie? I’m sure she already knows.”

“Cupcakes,” Naga interrupted.

Stinger’s grin continued. But he complied and went into the house. “Damn,” Echidna commented in an undertone to Scorpio. “Sub? Who even was the teacher?” She looked over at Naga. “Can you tell me once this is all over?”

“No,” came the firm reply. “But this is best for everyone.”

“Hammie will tell me.”

“No, she won’t.”

“None of you are any fun.”

Scorpio rubbed her shoulder. “You constantly accuse all of us of that, and yet, you still hang out with us all the time.”

“Shut-up. I kind of like you guys.”

Scorpio just laughed, pulling her close for a moment. Echidna settled against him, watching the six girls playing in the ball pit. (Mika would home later for their family dinner, when Kaliya would get her birthday presents from them. Right now, she was escaping the chaos at a friend’s house.) With the babies asleep, and this bunch having a great time, all the problems seemed far away. And a new teacher would be good for Misha’s class. Granted, the kids with the shitty parents were still in the class, and they would begin the process of hunting for a new school. But _damn_ , Naga was pregnant! She really wanted to tell Scorpio, so he could crow with her over the two who always had a plan getting a wrench thrown into the works. But she’d restrain herself. Naga was her best friend and clearly stressed out, managing morning sickness and hiding things from his husband.

Stinger came outside with the tray of elaborate cupcakes.

“Aniki?” he asked. “Can you get the ice cream cups?”

“Sure.” Scorpio kissed her temple and got up, disappearing into the house.

Echidna sipped from her glass of wine, and watched as the three of them set up the cupcakes as a round table for the girls, along with the ice cream, cups and plates. Part of her felt like she should offer to help again, but she also knew they would ask her to do something if they wanted her assistance. She could also jump in if she saw an opening, but there was none here. Kaliya wanted sushi for dinner tonight, so they had made a reservation at a place within walking distance. And they would likely end up taking the girls to Bonnie’s for more ice cream afterwards. But they only ate like this once in a while, so who really cared, right?

The girls were singing to Kaliya and she was grinning from ear to ear. Misha sat next to her, also grinning and finally happy.

She hadn’t explicitly asked Misha if any of the kids were moved from her class in school, but with Stinger’s vague comments… maybe they had been. Maybe Misha felt guilty about them being moved? Echidna felt guilty about all the legal stuff Rebellion was bringing down, but she knew that she should not feel that way at all. None of this was her fault. Raptor and Balance reassured them that nothing further was going to happen to them. Echidna may have caught a Rebellion officer in plainclothes tailing them once or twice. (She’d given him a bored look to get better at that.)

Cupcakes gone, the girls were herded into the house for their parents to pick them up.

Echidna called Misha over to her.

Misha bounced over, looking happy.

“Can I ask you something, baby girl?” Misha nodded. “The kids that were mean to you—are they still in your class?”

She watched as her daughter chewed the inside of her lip, looking thoughtful. “Only one still is,” she finally said after thinking for a moment.

“Why didn’t you tell me or Tou-chan?” she asked as calmly as she could.

“Well, one moved and another switched schools, and everyone seemed to have a different reason, and I felt bad because I think they left because of _me_.”

“Misha, listen to me. They did not leave because of you.” She looked at her daughter seriously. “Has school gotten better?”

She nodded. “It’s quieter. I can read.”

“Good.” She gave Misha a quick hug. “Tell us things like that. We’ve been worried.”

Misha looked truly stricken. “I didn’t want Tou-chan to worry more!”

“He’ll want to know that. He wants school to be better for you.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind Misha’s ear. “Go tell Tou-chan too. Then I’ll take you and Kaliya to get your nails done before we go to dinner.”

“Really? Can we get stars on our nails?”

“Yes. And glitter. Go.”

Misha scurried into the house. Echidna could see them through the window. Naga was talking to the last parent to pick up their daughter. Misha talked to Scorpio, and she watched as he got down on her level and then hugged her closely. She hugged him back. Echidna knew what Scorpio was telling her—she could come to him with anything, any time, she didn’t need to worry. The pair of them were so close. Echidna knew that Misha would rely on her father for the rest of her life.

Stinger stuck his head out the back door. “You’re really taking Kaliya and Misha for manicures?”

“Yes.”

“Thank the gods.” And he disappeared inside.

Naga came outside. “Your husband is weird,” she informed him.

He sat down in the lawn chair next to her. “I know, but he’s my weirdo.”

She looked over her shoulder and saw Stinger occupied in the kitchen. “Hey,” she said softly. “I know you’re not happy right now, but I think you two will do great.” She nudged him a little bit. “Plus maybe you’ll get a boy who can spend his life being bossed around by his older sisters and cousins.”

Naga exhaled in an almost-laugh. “I doubt it. Stinger and Scorpio produce girls.”

She grinned. “I do like to blame them for that.”

“ _You_ wanted two girls.”

“I did. Scorpio gave me exactly what I wanted.” She paused. “Did you have a preference?”

“No. I still don’t. I just want our kids to be healthy and happy.”

“They are.” She looked at the baby monitor. “Look who’s waking up.”

Naga motioned her away. “Get Misha and Kaliya and go have fun. We’ll see you at dinner.”

She squeezed Naga’s wrist as she got up.

“See you at dinner.”

\-------------------

“What do you think happened to all those kids?”

Echidna bit back a moan as Scorpio massaged her back. He hit all the tense spots just right, using the lavender massage oil. When she got back from the manicures with Misha and Kaliya, he seemed in better spirits, playing on the floor with both the babies.

“You think Rebellion made them disappear?” she mused.

“Rebellion did not throw them in jail,” Scorpio told her.

“They might have.”

“It’s a human right’s violation and Rebellion is answerable to the Space Federation. They do not do things like that.”

She let out a long breath, shifting a little under his touch. “What do you think Naga said to Misha?”

“Probably some iteration that everything would be okay and she did the right thing.”

“You talk to her about everything in her class?”

“I did.”

“And?”

“And, she’s smart. Very aware of everything around her. She knew I haven’t been doing well and wanted to not upset me. I told her nothing she did would upset me. Ever. She can tell me whatever she wants, whenever she wants.” He paused, and added, “She’s a good kid. A little too perspective at times.”

“Good. Sounds like things are finally getting a little better.”

“I still think another school would be good for her.”

“Me too.” She made a pleased noise as Scorpio hit a knot near her shoulder. “There’s a few magnet schools around here. Maybe she’d like a performing arts or STEM one?”

She didn’t see Scorpio smile, but she knew he was. He was thinking about all the ‘plays’ that Misha put on with her stuffed animals. She didn’t even need a friend or an audience. Her kiddie datapad had some recording features, and she made short films of her plays, with her voicing all the characters and very clearly moving them around to manipulate the scene. Scorpio wanted to get her one of those kid stop-motion sets for Christmas, something where she could move the characters around and cut the scenes together without her arms being in the picture. Misha would really enjoy that. (Coral was getting a bunch of stuffed animals and hairbows for Christmas. Maybe some blocks.)

“She might.” Kaliya may have been the artist, but Misha was the writer and performer.

Echidna rolled over. Scorpio smiled at her.

“Hello beautiful,” he said softly, leaning down and kissing her. She responded to the soft, sweet kiss. They’d gotten the girls to bed and had already shed unnecessary clothing. He was down to his black boxers, while she was only in her panties. (Although she was amazed he’d left that much clothing on either of them.) She threaded her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, holding him close for a moment. “You want to fool around?” he asked with a shit-eating grin.

She reached down, gently tweaking his nipple. “We better be doing a lot more than that.”

“Oh really?”

Echidna narrowed her eyes at him, gently pushing her underwear down and off. She could have made a joke about being spread eagle on the dining room table, but she really wanted him. He gave fantastic massages, but now she was warmed up and ready to go.

She pulled him down for a messy, bruising kiss and he obliged her. Fuck, this felt so familiar and so good. She pushed his boxers down, and he finished getting them off. Yeah, he was hard and ready to go too. She really wanted him close. She got him between her legs before she realized—“Shit, our implants are working, right?”

Scorpio blinked, momentarily confused. “Of course.”

“Did you check the alerts?”

He sat up and glanced at their phones on the nightstand. “None.” He frowned at her. “Okay, you’ve always been confident in the implants before. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she hedged.

“Echidna.”

“Fine! Can you keep a secret?”

Scorpio looked truly confused. “A secret?”

“I mean, can you keep a secret from your brother?”

“From my brother? What in the…” Realization dawned. “Naga’s pregnant.”

“Yeah.”

“And he hasn’t told Stinger?”

“No.”

“Holy shit!” Scorpio sat back on the bed, running one hand through his hair. “No wonder Naga’s been off lately.” He swore softly. “And my brother is an _idiot_ for believing the stomach bug story. Damn,” he gave her a look. “We’re not having an oops baby.”

“I know, it’s just… Naga having one made me think.”

“You want to do something more permanent then the implants?”

“Maybe in a few years. Not right now.” She gave him a serious look. “I do _not_ want a third kid.”

“I don’t either. We’re being careful.” He wrapped arm around her waist, pulling her close. “Stinger is going to be pissy Naga didn’t tell him sooner.”

“Will he be mad about the baby?”

“No. He’ll be over the moon about that. He loves all his kids. I’m going to practice looking surprised. You cannot tell Naga you told me.”

“Because Stinger doesn’t need another reason to be pissy?”

“Right.”

“Scorpio?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we still going to fuck?”

“Yes. Yes, we are.”

Echidna smiled as he moved back over her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him close. They’d always been good at this part—being intimate. But Scorpio had just seemed to _get_ her from the beginning. He still did. She hadn’t ever really expected to want a husband and a family, but now that she had those things, she couldn’t imagine going back.

And as intensely curious as she was to find out what the parents and the teacher had done exactly, she was going to bid her time. Wait a few months and ask Balance when he was tipsy. The mechanical lifeform might not eat, but he definitely drank and could definitely get drunk. She’d witnessed that. And Balance would spill. Naga would tell him not to, as would Raptor, but she was going to find out. In the mean time, she wanted to enjoy her husband and her family.

Hopefully, things would work out.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and commenting, everyone! I hope you're enjoying this piece! Continued shout-out to 8bitstrawberrie for her support and help with this piece!
> 
> Let me know you're out there, readers! Drop me a comment or kudos, and feel free to send me asks on tumblr. Thank you so much! You all are the best!


	4. One Last Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Echidna survives the Halloween party. Hammie and Spada watch the kids while the adults have a night out. Stinger has a solution for Misha, while Echidna and Naga go out.

**Chapter Four: One Last Time**

_Relax, have a drink with me, one last time…_

Echidna shoved the leftover cupcakes and treat bags into the back of the car. Stinger pushed in the box of extra decorations. “That went really well,” he commented.

“I _never_ want to do that again.”

“The kids had a gone time. The teacher was impressed.”

“She asked me to host the winter party!”

“Because she thought you did a good job on this one.”

“ _You_ fucking planned this one.”

“You told her no nicely.”

Inwardly, she was impressed she managed to meet a new person and not accidentally swear. Today had been the first time Echidna met Misha’s new teacher—permanent replacement, midyear, she seemed excited to have landed the opportunity. Definitely a little bit older than the starry-eyed twenty-something teachers, but firm and caring with all the kids. Misha liked her. Echidna had spoken with her on the phone a few times, explaining the situation, and the teacher had been concerned, sending detailed messages each afternoon about Misha’s day. That had been two weeks ago. Now, the messages shifted into explanations of how far ahead Misha was in reading and math—the teacher was concerned about finding age appropriate books at her reading level, and had taken to giving her scientific nature articles on her datapad to read. Now Echidna got to hear all kinds of fun facts about bugs. At dinner. Hell, the teacher had even gently suggested that Misha might do better at another school, one tailored for gifted students.

_Gifted_. Huh. She’d never really thought of her daughter as gifted. Sure, Misha was smart, loved to read and learn, but those were traits anyone from the Ophiuchus System had and she was not surprised her daughter had them as well. Plus Scorpio was creative and hands-on. So she just let Misha explore what interested her. They’d been looking around at possibilities for schools, but this was the first time a teacher had suggested she might need something else.

Thanks to Stinger, who even volunteered to come along and help run the thing, the Halloween party had gone well. They’d been up since the crack of dawn making coordinated themed cupcakes. Not as complicated as the mermaid ones for Kaliya’s birthday, but still a pain in the ass. The night before had been spent assembling the treat bags, while Scorpio looked amused and Coral got upset no one would let her try the popcorn. They had treat bags, cupcakes, decorations, plus a coloring contest and a handful of games. Echidna had insisted they keep things simple and Stinger just shrugged, saying she was in charge of this party, not him.

Although ever since Kaliya’s birthday a week ago, Naga _still_ had not told Stinger his news.

“Want to get lunch?” Stinger asked as they closed the trunk of the car.

“Sure.” She’d been too nervous before the party to eat. “Where?”

He named her favorite sushi place—same one where they’d gone on Kaliya’s birthday. She agreed easily. She liked eating at the same places multiple times in a row. Years ago, she would have tried to hide that fact. But Scorpio learned that about her almost immediately, and yet, she still felt like she needed to cover that up. Now, she knew that every other friend or family member in her life knew, so why hide things? Yes, she did want sushi multiple days in a row. So what?

She drove them over to the sushi place and in a few minutes, had their table. Since they were technically past lunch time, the place was quiet, almost empty. Which Echidna appreciated. Her hands shook as she tried to drink some tea.

“Hey, it’s all over,” Stinger reassured her. “And you aren’t throwing the winter party.”

“It’s just residual nerves,” she replied, too exhausted to snap at him. Although she did want to know, “How’s Naga?”

“He’s okay. Still not feeling great and dealing with parent group drama.”

That perked her interest. “Parent group drama?”

“You know those parent groups he helps with?”

“Yes, I know! I have refused to go to them.”

Stinger shook his head, looking at his own teacup. “Probably a good call,” he muttered. He looked up, sighing. “Some of the parents involved were the ones no longer in Misha’s class.”

“Shit,” she swore.

“And let’s just say they told their spin on things before departing.”

Echidna’s heart fell into her stomach. Naga fucking _loved_ those parent groups. “Did they kick him out?”

“No, you know Naga. He defended you and himself immediately, and told them if they were going to be hateful, they should go somewhere else. So they did. And now the group only has a few people left.”

“Fuck, Naga must be upset.”

“He’s angrier about them being hateful than he is about the group being a small number. I heard him on a call with Hammie calling them ‘small but mighty’.”

Echidna felt warm that Naga would stand up for her and Scorpio, but blinked at the last piece of the information. “Hammie is in that group?”

“Yeah. She joined a little bit ago. Why? Would that make _you_ join?”

“Shut-up.”

But Stinger was still grinning. “Look, it’s really just a wine and cheese club to get together, talk about our kids and exchange tips. No pressure. No one really knows what they’re doing. Everyone tends to go in to hire a nanny for the night too.”

“I guess that sounds okay.”

“You like Hammie and Naga,” Stinger pointed out.

“Yeah, but you’ll be there and you’re annoying.”

“I’ll try to be less annoying?” However, he knew she was mostly joking. “When Spada is there, he talks about easy lunches for the kids that are fun—” Echidna pulled a face. “—hear me out. They’re not overly cute. Just easy and kid friendly.”

“We don’t _need_ kid friendly. Our kids eat everything.”

“I know. And other parents really want tips on that.”

“We just… did it.”

Stinger laughed. “We introduced the kids to a variety of things early and make them at least try something before writing it off.”

“Also, why is Spada doing that? His kid eats everything even more than ours.”

“His son also bakes.”

Echidna blinked. “Are you fucking serious? He’s three!”

Stinger shrugged. “He has one of those tiny kid ovens.”

“What the…” She shook her head, going back to the original topic. “Naga’s whole parenting group really fell apart because of me?”

“No,” Stinger replied firmly. “It didn’t fall apart.” He gave her an appraising look. “You and Naga are the opposite when it comes to trusting people. You are suspicious, takes you years to warm up to someone and even then, you still question their motives. Naga? He wants to believe the best in people and he wants everyone to feel included, like they have a support group. Not the first time he’s dealt with people being assholes. But once he discovers those attitudes, he has no tolerance for them.”

“So why he is married to you?” Echidna quipped.

“Very funny,” Stinger shot back dryly.

Their waiter came by with their order. Stinger thanked him, while Echidna just attempted to smile tightly, in spite of her nerves still going full blast. She was hungry and wanted to eat her sushi rolls—she had wanted to get a vegetable roll and an avocado roll, but Stinger asked if she needed more protein than that, so she caved and got a tuna roll instead of an vegetable roll. But with her hands still shaking, she wasn’t sure how much was going down.

“Hey,” Stinger said softly. “None of this is your fault.”

“I know that. I just don’t understand why other people are such…”

“Petty jerks?”

“I was going for bigoted assholes, but that works too.”

Stinger put down his chopsticks. “Look, we defeated Jark Matter a long time ago, but not a long enough time for some people.”

“It was thirteen years ago.”

“I know. Scorpio was unfrozen twelve years ago. We helped start that entire program and Rebellion funded the research. Anyone coming out of that program didn’t join Jark Matter of their own free will.” He shrugged. “I want to see people rehabilitated. If someone wants to change, they should get a second chance. Not everyone sees it that way.”

“How do they see it?”

“Depends on the person. Usually they lost something or someone at the hands of Jark Matter—sometimes they lost everything and everyone dear to them. They can’t reconcile someone being with Jark Matter and _not_ having done that of their own free will. Because to them, anyone ever associated with Jark Matter is bad. Forever. They feel like that person is always going to be a threat.”

“But that’s not fair!”

“No, it’s not fair. It’s backwards and barbaric. And yet, people think that.”

“Is that what those people thought about Scorpio? Or me?”

Stinger exhaled slowly. “I don’t honestly know what they thought. Whatever it was, they were being irrational. Just another iteration of ‘we don’t want our kids playing with _those_ kids’.”

“What happened to them? And the teacher?”

“Echidna, you know I can’t tell you that.”

“Please?”

“I really can’t.”

She picked up her chopsticks and grabbed a piece of her sushi, then put the piece down. “Just why do any of this at all? I don’t understand.”

“For them, it’s confirmation bias. And anything can confirm their bias.” He paused and said, “Would you take a deep breath and try to eat? Let’s talk about something else.” And he added, “Spada and Hammie said they’ll take the kids this weekend so we can all go out.”

“Oh really? All the kids?”

Stinger nodded. “They usually come over to our house. Bring Orion. You and Scorpio could drop off Misha and Coral. And we can do whatever.”

“You and Scorpio just want to go quilt or whatever it is you do. You don’t want to do what I want to do.”

“Which is?”

“I kind of want to go dancing.”

“Naga would go with you.”

Echidna frowned. “He would?”

“We used to go dancing a lot before the kids. He likes that.” Stinger smiled a little. “And you know Scorpio would indulge you.”

“Yeah, but he also wants to finish the new clothes for Coral before she outgrows them.”

“They are getting big,” Stinger replied a little wistfully. “But we don’t have to make any plans yet. Spada and Hammie will come over around five on Saturday. We’ll all have dinner together and then get the kids settled and take off. You want to join us?”

Echidna glowered at him, but replied, “I’ll check with Scorpio, but probably, yes.”

She forced herself to eat the first piece of her avocado sushi. Her stomach felt a little less tight, but she was worried about Naga. How long was he planning to keep this charade up? She knew with how bad he was feeling, he would _not_ want to go anywhere noisy with her. But he’d probably agree, especially if he still hadn’t told Stinger. She was tempted to tell Stinger herself, but was not going to betray Naga’s confidence like that.

“You really can’t tell me what happened with those people?” she wheedled.

“No. I can’t.”

“Will you tell me on Christmas after three eggnogs?”

“Maybe, but that would be unethical of you.”

“Since when am I ethical?”

“Trust me, they won’t be bothering you or anyone else ever again.” Stinger paused and then got a shit-eating grin on his face. “Which reminds me, Balance said he has a present for Misha. It’s apparently a drum set that is solar powered and you can’t turn it off.”

“No,” Echidna groaned. Then narrowed her eyes. “He does not have that.”

Stinger laughed. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Jerk,” she muttered.

“But he does actually have another one of those weighted monster stuffed animals for her. This one is teal, I think.”

“Oh,” Echidna perked up. “She really likes her other one.”

“He asked if you wanted one.”

“I already have a weighted blanket. I’m good.”

Talking about pointless shit with Stinger made her feel better, so she tried another piece of her sushi. Stomach seemed to be doing better. She’d probably be able to eat all of this.

And she was looking forward to a break this weekend.

\------------------

“You do not want to be here.”

“No, but anything else would have made Stinger suspicious.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, just tell him!”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

Echidna had chosen a relatively quiet bar with a small dance floor. Used to be one of her regular haunts before Scorpio. The place had changed a little bit, but not significantly. Still the same old crusty bartender who didn’t put up with shit. Dim lighting, impressive collection of pictures from around the galaxy. Neon signs from centuries ago. Good place for a hookup. Or a good place to get shitfaced and pretend to dance. Which was exactly what Echidna planned on doing. She hadn’t been really drunk in a long time, probably since before Misha. Hell, maybe even before Scorpio. Having Scorpio around really negated her reasons for being in bars and getting drunk in the first place. He was handy to have around.

She threw back her glass of whiskey, wincing at the burn.

“He’s going to find out. He’s not stupid. He probably already suspects.”

But Naga caught on to the wrong part and asked, “Did you just admit Stinger’s not stupid?”

“Shut-up, he’s a dumbass. But he’s been through three pregnancies with you. He knows what the hell is going on.”

“Then why hasn’t he said anything?”

“You know, because he’s weird. Or off kilter enough to have doubts.”

Naga sighed. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. We’re supposed to be getting a break from our kids.”

“And our husbands!”

“You don’t actually need breaks from Scorpio.”

Echidna gave him a confused look. “We go places without the other one all the time.”

“Really?”

“We’re not joined at the hip. We need space sometimes too. Fuck.”

“I don’t know, you two just seem really great together.”

Naga looked down, so Echidna just snapped, “Oh shut-up, you and Stinger are like the picture perfect couple.”

“You and Scorpio don’t seem to fight.”

She snorted. “We just don’t fight in front of you. That would be awkward.” She motioned to the bartender for another whiskey. “Besides, what would you and Stinger even fight about? Who gets to write the notes for the kids’ lunches?”

“Planning. Timing. Money.” Naga sighed. “Money most of the time.”

“Do you need money? Because I have money you can have.”

“No, it’s not that. More like what we should do with our money.”

“What, like trust funds for the kids?”

Naga stared into his glass of soda. “Something like that.” He raised the glass and took a sip. “We could move into a bigger house. Renovate the one we have. Take more exciting trips. Donate to charity.” He shrugged.

The bartender poured Echidna’s second drink, which she threw back equally as quickly. Her tolerance had clearly lowered over the years, but she pressed on with, “I don’t think you fucking want to move into a bigger house.”

“We won’t have a guest room after the fourth baby.”

“That’s such a fucking weird thing to care about. We don’t have a guest room.”

“But you _do_ have an extra room upstairs!”

“You probably don’t want to hear what I think, but I’m telling you anyways. Just do all those things. Renovate the house, donate to charity, take an exciting trip.” She paused, and asked, “Where are you going, because I might want to go too?”

Naga snorted. “I have no idea where we’re going, because no one has made those decisions yet.”

“I think we should go to the Vela System. Their beaches have been restored.”

“You hate the beach,” Naga pointed out.

“No, I hate crowded beaches. They have beach houses with private beaches there. No dealing with freaking people!” She glowered. “Fuck people. I hate them.”

“Well this just turned into weird vacation planning.”

Echidna turned to Naga. “Can I ask you something? How far along are you?”

The question caused Naga to stare further into his soda. “Twelve weeks,” he finally answered.

“Holy fuck, you’re that far along! I thought it was earlier than that!” She shook her head, smiling a little as the bartender poured her another whiskey. “You have to tell Stinger tonight! The dumbass needs time to make baby things.”

“He can just use hand-me-downs from the older girls.”

“What if it’s a boy?”

“It’s not. Didn’t we already discuss that Scorpio and Stinger only produce girls?”

“First, you don’t know that to be true at all. Second,” she tacked on breezily, “you two are fucking weird for never wanting to know the baby’s gender in advance.”

“Well, I think you’re weird for wanting to know.”

Echidna raised her glass a little. “Fair enough,” she responded. She took a sip of her drink. Really should have been pacing herself this entire time. “Look,” she added. “Stinger gets on my last nerve all the goddamn time, but he really loves you and all the girls. He’s not going to be angry. Miffed with his feelings hurt, yes. But he’ll get over it fast because he has more important things to worry about.”

“Like how we’re going to take care of two infants?”

“Akane will be a year old. It will be fine.”

“You’re not the one that has to deal with a one year old and a newborn.”

“I told you last weekend that we would help!”

At that point, a guy came up to her with a stupid, “Hey there gorgeous,” pick up line. Echidna blinked. Damn, no one had bothered to try hitting on her for years. Probably because she gave off really good ‘go the fuck away’ vibes. She glanced over her shoulder and snapped, “We’re both married. Beat it.” And the guy slunk off.

Naga and the bartender were watching her, impressed.

“What?” she asked. “Not that hard to get rid of creeps.” She finished her drink and got off the barstool. She gently tugged Naga’s wrist. “Come on, we came here to dance! Let’s dance for a little bit. Then we can go get more pizza or something.”

Naga shook his head and allowed himself to be led away.

Even if he was sober, Echidna would try to make sure he had a good time.

\------------------

“Gods, I feel like we’re just boring.”

Scorpio looked across the table at Stinger. They’d eaten dinner together with Spada and Hammie and their son, and gotten the kids settled. Mika, Kaliya and Misha didn’t really care—they were doing their own thing. Mika had been in her room, Misha and Kaliya up in the treehouse. So they got the babies settled in the playpen—they would go down in an hour or so. Orion had been on the living room floor with his own toys. Spada and Hammie shooed everyone away. Echidna wanted to blow off some steam and got Naga to go out with her. Scorpio was inwardly impressed, because Naga hated going out when he was pregnant. But Stinger clearly still didn’t know and Scorpio had been practicing his surprised face all week. Still, he and Stinger had gone to the store and picked up some drinks and snacks, and come back straight to Stinger’s workshop.

Stinger was working on knitting a mermaid blanket for Kaliya, while Scorpio had picked up a butterfly quilt he had in the works for Misha. His eldest loved bugs and Scorpio was enjoying putting together this pattern.

“This was your idea,” Scorpio pointed out.

“I know,” Stinger sighed. “Maybe we should have gone with them.”

“You hate bars and clubs.”

“So do you, but then maybe I’d feel like we were doing something.”

Scorpio nodded towards the projects. “We are doing something, and this is exactly what we’d be doing on a Saturday night if we were back home.”

Stinger looked a little wistful. “Not really home anymore, is it?”

“What’s wrong with you?”

His younger brother shrugged, looking away. “I mean, nothing should be wrong, but I just _feel_ like something is about to happen.” He put down the knitting, rubbing the back of his neck. “There’s just garbage right now. Naga doesn’t seem to be able to shake feeling off—and I asked him to go to the doctor and he did, and the doctor said nothing was wrong.” Stinger looked distant for a moment. “I’m just worried, I guess. He’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”

“Stinger,” Scorpio replied evenly. “Naga loves you very much. He doesn’t want to hurt you.”

“I know.” He sighed. “We talked about having another baby.”

Scorpio was glad he practiced his neutral and surprised faces, because he managed to look curious about the statement. “I know you talked about it. Why bring it up?”

“I don’t know. We waited so long to have Akane, I wonder if it would just be better to have the fourth one sooner. We’re not getting any younger. Akane should grow out of most of her issues by the time a new one came along. I know I was stressed about it a few weeks ago, but I really think we can do it.” He paused. “If Naga agrees.”

“How much recovery time does he need?” Scorpio asked carefully.

“Oh, I think we’d wait until Akane is closer to a year old.”

_Good luck with that, new one’s coming sooner_ , but Scorpio didn’t say that aloud. Honestly, Stinger already considering a new baby should make Naga ultimately telling him a lot easier. His younger brother would be thrilled about the new addition.

Stinger shook his head. “What about you? How’s Misha doing at school?”

Scorpio let him change the subject. “A lot better since the new teacher. She’s been sending us detailed reports, watching the kids closely during recess. Misha’s still a loner, but she’s always been that way.” He paused. “Her teacher did mention that she might do better in a school designed to help kids so far ahead in reading and math, like she is.”

“Some kids start out that way, then everything evens out,” Stinger commented neutrally.

Scorpio wasn’t offended. “I know. But even for a few years, the teacher thinks it could really help her.”

“Have you looked at any schools?”

“You know we have, but most magnet and charter schools don’t enroll midyear, even if they have an opening.”

“Anything look good?”

Scorpio nodded. “We found a STEM school and a performing arts one that might be good fits.”

Stinger nodded back, looking thoughtful. “I think I may have found one that will work.”

“Oh really?”

Another nod. “Hammie’s a department chair at her school, and mentioned that the district had a magnet school on in its third year—kind of difficult to describe them, but the bottom line is, they have the kids in small classes based on their age, but tailor the curriculum to meet their learning level. Ten kids could be in a class and all ten of them could be doing different things. But the idea is that they stay with their peers and learn valuable social skills while getting lessons that will challenge them and let them learn where they are.”

Scorpio blinked. “That actually exists?”

“I swear it does. I’ll send you their information.”

“It sounds like too-good-to-be-true bullshit.”

“I know! But Hammie swears the place is legit and has gotten really good results. If the kids end up back on grade level, the school works to transition them to a more traditional school. But she said so far, only a small percentage have done that. Most of the kids _thrive_ at that place.”

Scorpio put down the quilting and pulled his phone from his bag. Stinger got out his own phone and set him information. He scrolled through their site. And then went through the enrollment information. “Wait, this says they enroll midyear?”

Stinger nodded.

“Well fuck,” he muttered.

“You going to arrange a tour?”

He glowered at his younger brother. “Wipe that look off your face. You know that Echidna and I will be going there with Misha as soon as we can.”

Stinger took a sip of his drink. “Oh, forgot to tell you. Misha wants to join pottery class with Kaliya.”

“No. I am not dealing with clay.”

His younger brother actually snickered. “You will. You dote on Misha.”

“Shut-up.”

But he knew Stinger was right.

And this school looked amazing. Maybe something would go right, for once.

\------------------

Echidna stumbled a little bit up the front walk, allowing Naga to steady her as she attempted to walk. When had walking gotten so hard? Fucking hell, Naga had told her not to have the fifth drink, her tolerance wasn’t that great anymore, but no, she just had to have more drinks and dance, and the music had been so great and fun, and Naga was her best friend and the night was everything she had hoped, and she could deal with kids and responsibilities and other _boring_ shit tomorrow. Right?

“You okay?” Naga asked gently.

She made a rude noise. “I’m _fine_ ,” she ground out, proud of herself for stringing the words together. “Never better.”

Naga looked skeptical and shook his head, commenting, “You’re going to be Scorpio’s problem in exactly one minute.”

“Good,” she replied. “I have some things he can take care of.”

“Do _not_ start describing some weird sex act right now.”

“Being fucked from behind in the shower is not that weird!” she protested.

“Is that what you wanted him to do?”

“No,” and she was horrified to find she sounded petulant. “He can warm me up by eating me out and then fuck me. _Hard_.”

“I’m sure he’ll be delighted to hear that,” Naga responded dryly.

“Aw shit,” she muttered. “Do we have to take the kids home?”

“No,” Naga explained patiently. “They’re spending the night. You can retrieve them in the morning.” And then he muttered, “More like Scorpio is retrieving them while you sleep this off.”

“But this was so fun!” she protested.

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“You know what?” she added, grabbing Naga’s arm and leaning on him for support while they stood on the front porch. “You should tell Stinger right now!”

“Echidna, keep your voice down!”

“No, really! He needs to know.”

“We’re not talking about this anymore.”

She sighed harshly. “Fine. Whatever.” She swayed a little, and commented, “I think I need to lay down for a little bit.”

Naga unlocked the front door and ushered her inside.

Most of the house lights were off and the place was quiet. Stinger and Scorpio were sitting at the dining room table, talking about something and leaning over Scorpio’s datapad. From the looks on their faces, they were very serious about something. And that wouldn’t _do_. Tonight was _fun_! No serious talk or business stuff. Besides, Echidna would not be happy if Scorpio agreed to go into business with Stinger. His little brother was an idiot at business stuff. Scorpio wasn’t. He didn’t need to get involved with weird crap like that!

“Hey,” Stinger greeted them, looking up.

Scorpio looked up as well and stood. “How many drinks?” he asked Naga.

“Not that many,” she tried to sound reassuring.

“Five,” Naga outed her immediately.

“You suck,” she told Naga, but then realized, “Actually, you probably do suck really well. I hope your dumbass husband returns the favor once in a while.” She gave Stinger a pointed look. And then turned her attention to Scorpio, who has crossed the room to her. “I’m _fine_ ,” she said. “I didn’t drink that much! And all I did was dance.”

“I know all you did was dance.” He asked Naga, “Whiskey?”

“Doubles.”

Scorpio rolled his eyes. “Okay, Echidna, let’s get you home and in bed.”

“No,” she whined, dragging out the word. “It’s still _early_. We can have so much fun!”

“You are already going to be miserable in the morning,” Scorpio reminded her. “Come on, let’s go home, you can drink a big glass of water and I’ll get you coffee and painkillers in the morning.”

Scorpio was really good about taking care of her when she drank too much. Honestly hadn’t happened much since they’d been together—he didn’t drink at all, still didn’t, not even a glass of wine with dinner. His choice and she admired him for sticking to that choice, especially around her. He was just so even-keeled and confident in his choices that he didn’t let anything steer him away. And yet, he didn’t judge anyone else for their choices. He knew she had nothing but one-night stands for years before meeting him and he didn’t care. He just wanted loyalty and monogamy, and she never wanted any of those things before him.

“I guess,” and she almost let Scorpio lead her away.

But he distracted her with, “And we think we found a school for Misha.”

She stopped, surprised. “Really?”

“Really,” he confirmed. “I’ll tell you in the morning when you’re sober and can hear all the details.”

“No, tell me now!”

“You won’t remember any of this.”

“I remember stuff! Please? Misha needs a better school!”

Granted, things were better with the new teacher and whatever the hell had happened with the parents that Naga was _rude_ about and wouldn’t tell her the details. Maybe Balance would tell her the details. He liked to gossip. When were they seeing Balance again? She couldn’t remember. Maybe Stinger was having a post-Halloween barbeque or something? He liked to have family get togethers all the time that involved people like Balance and Champ. Oh, Champ had given them tickets to one of his matches and that had been fun! She had thought robot wrestling would be stupid, but she’d enjoyed herself and Champ won. Yeah, when was that happening again?

Shit, focus! They were talking about Misha, who was much more important than some silly robot wrestling tournament! Right? Yes. Her daughter was the most important thing in her life.

“It’s a place that groups the kids by age level in small classes, so they get social development skills, but tailors the curriculum to each kid’s learning level. Basically so they remain challenged but on age appropriate materials and peers.”

“Bullshit, that’s not a real school.”

“I thought so too, but I swear it’s real.”

“Well, if it’s real, we have to go tour the place.”

“We will. Next week. After you sober up.”

“Oh, come on, I have not been this drunk in _years_.”

“Yes, since before Misha, I remember.”

“Shit, that’s been five years!” She paused. “She’s so old now! Shit, how old am I?”

Scorpio smiled. “Age has literally never mattered to you before.” He picked up his tote bag with his quilt for Misha and put the datapad into the bag. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he wrapped an arm around her waist. “You need to sleep. Can you walk home or do I need to call a transport?”

“Wait… the room is spinning.”

“Transport.” He pulled out his phone and summoned a ground transport.

Stinger had joined them in the front hall at… some point. She couldn’t keep track of who was coming and going around here. Especially Stinger. He was a sneaky one. Naga really should watch out for him more.

“Two minutes,” Scorpio announced, and she hoped that was the transport time.

“No problem,” Stinger responded. “Join us for breakfast.”

“I will. We’ll see what Echidna feels like.”

“Great,” Stinger’s arm was around Naga. When had _that_ happened. He pressed a kiss to Naga’s temple. “What were you talking about on the porch?”

“Nothing,” Naga said quickly. “Echidna’s weird sex stories.”

“No we weren’t!” Echidna defended herself quickly. “I mean, kind of, but not really.”

Stinger looked amused. “So what were you talking about?”

Naga opened his mouth to reply, but Echidna cut in with, “Just about how you don’t know that Naga’s pregnant and he won’t tell you!” She swayed, feeling sick for a moment, but told Scorpio, “No, I feel okay. I’m not going to throw up.”

She blinked. The room had gotten really quiet.

Naga hadn’t bothered to yell at her or protest. His eyes had filled with tears and his face was flushed, looking downright miserable. Stinger was standing there completely stunned, no reaction whatsoever. Which was super weird because Stinger liked babies and the dumbass had to suspect something, right? Whatever, the room was spinning too much and she really wanted to lay down.

“We should go,” Scorpio cut into the tense silence.

Naga full-on burst into tears.

“Why are you crying?” Echidna asked. “He doesn’t know!”

“We’re leaving. Now.”

And Scorpio ushered her outside into the cool evening air. The front door closed behind them and he pulled out his phone. “Forty-five seconds,” he muttered.

“Why are you summoning a transport to go one street over?”

“Because you can’t walk there on your own.”

“I’m tired.”

“I know.”

“I just think it’s stupid that Naga hasn’t told Stinger yet.” She leaned against Scorpio and closed her eyes. “I’m just going to take a quick nap here. Let me know when the transport gets here.”

Distantly, she could hear the front door open and voices on the lawn. She thought Scorpio might have been talking, but couldn’t be sure. She really just wanted to be at home, snuggled against him. That sounded really nice right now. No drama, just cuddling with her really hot husband. Maybe if she didn’t feel too bad in the morning, he’d be up for shower sex. Maybe. That would be nice.

\------------------

Golden sunlight streamed through the bedroom window. Echidna groaned. Who the hell had left the curtains open? Not her. She buried her face in her pillow, trying to drown out the awful pounding in her head and the way her mouth felt dry and coarse. Shit, what the hell had happened last night? She vaguely remembered talking to Naga at the bar and drinking, and then dancing some, but everything after that was a blur. Her head was pounding too much for her to think.

“I’m never drinking again,” she mumbled into the pillow.

“Probably a good idea.”

Scorpio. “What time is it?” she asked him.

“Ten-thirty.”

“Fucking hell.”

She heard Scorpio move through the room, set something down on the nightstand and then sit on the edge of the bed next to her, gently stroking her hair. “I brought you painkillers and water,” he informed her softly. “The girls all want to go out for lunch and I told them that was okay. You might want to eat something before we go out.”

“Which girls? Our girls or all the girls?”

“All the girls. Seemed the least we could do for Stinger and Naga.”

Distantly, Echidna could hear kid noise. Sounded like Misha and Kaliya were watching some animated movie of theirs—involving rainbows, mermaids, princesses and unicorns with lots of flowers and silly songs. Echidna could not stand those movies, but those two seemed to love them. Plus they seemed to get the attention of Coral and Akane, because she thought she heard baby noise responses. Mika was probably reluctantly watching along or off in a corner reading or playing a game on her own datapad. Echidna hadn’t reflected in a while that she appreciated how quiet Mika was now that she was older. She’d need to take her out for a special treat day.

Then Echidna had a flash of the night before.

She rolled over, in spite of her pounding head, and said to Scorpio, “Oh shit. I fucked up.”

He grinned. “Yeah, you did a little. You remember why you don’t drink like that anymore?”

“Shut-up.” She tried to sit up, succeeded partially, but the room spun a lot. “Where is my phone? I need to call Naga and apologize.”

“Naga’s not mad.”

Echidna blinked at him. “He’s not?”

“No.” Scorpio took her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. “He was pretty upset when you spilled everything, but then calmed down a little and realized you were drunk, and never would have revealed that had you been sober.”

She rubbed her forehead with her free hand. “Why were people in the yard?”

Scorpio exhaled. “That.” He shook his head. “Naga started crying and Stinger seemed shocked, so I figured we needed to leave. Next thing I know, Stinger is leaving the house with the car remote and Naga is following him, wanting him to stay so they could talk.”

“If that oaf hurt Naga—”

“He didn’t,” Scorpio interrupted. “I know Stinger doesn’t always think things through, but he loves Naga and his family.” But Scorpio looked bemused and not worried or upset. “Apparently, the only question Stinger asked was how far along Naga was, and when he answered, he just got up and went outside with the remote.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Naga and I thought the same thing. So I asked him where he was going.”

Echidna kept rubbing her temple. “Scorpio, I love you, and I know you love to tell a dramatic story, but I am not going to keep prompting you. What the hell happened?”

“Stinger wanted to go to the fabric store.”

“At one in the morning? Dumbass.”

“He figured that Naga was already three months along, so he’d lost a lot of time to start getting things ready and needed to go get fabric and other supplies to start making the new baby’s things. He also wanted to start cleaning out their spare room. At one in the morning.”

“Dumbass,” Echidna repeated.

“So Naga calmed down, we reminded Stinger that particular store is not open in the middle of the night and he could put in an order on his phone and pick it up this morning.” Scorpio motioned with his head. “That’s where Stinger and Naga are. They dropped all the girls off here first thing in the morning. I fed them and now they’re entertaining themselves until lunch. Which Stinger and Naga will be joining us for.”

“Are we going to Bonnie’s or somewhere else?”

“Sushi. All three of the older ones wanted sushi.” Scorpio shrugged. “They all agreed for once, so no one was going to tell them no.”

“Well that’s a goddamn miracle.” Echidna looked at Scorpio. “Are you sure that Naga is all right and he really isn’t mad at me?”

“Do you need to call Naga so he can reassure you?”

“Yes. Please get my phone.”

Scorpio retrieved her phone from the charging station on one of their nightstands. Her phone call to Naga was short and sweet. She apologized a lot for telling the secret, and Naga just reassured her that he had been shocked initially, but wasn’t mad. And Stinger wasn’t upset either, but a little frustrated that Naga had waited to tell him. (And off kilter enough from Akane that he just believed the stomach bug excuse when he really would have put everything together any other time.)

“Look, everything is fine. We’ll see you at lunch. Also, you sound like shit.”

“Thanks, jerk,” she muttered.

They said their goodbyes and disconnected the call.

Echidna took some painkillers and drank the water, then gave Scorpio a rueful look. “There’s too many kids here for shower sex, aren’t there?”

“Far too many. Plus two are infants.”

Scorpio went back to the living room to keep an eye on the kids, while Echidna took a long, hot shower, trying to will her headache away and feel well enough to interact with the kids. Scorpio was just out there handling five kids like that was nothing. How the hell did he manage to do that so well? She got overwhelmed if she had more than just her two. Granted, Mika and Kaliya were no trouble at all, and she could handle Coral and Akane if those two were all she had. And then there was Scorpio handling all of them with no issues.

When she got dressed and finally felt centered enough to go into the living room, she saw how Scorpio had handled all five kids. The babies were sharing a playpen, but the playpen had been filled with balls (like the ball pit at Kaliya’s birthday party) and were supported by their donut pillows. They were squirming and kicking at the balls, and generally seemed in good spirits. Misha and Kaliya were on the couch intently watching some very colorful movie. Too colorful. Echidna turned away from the screen and saw Mika sitting at the dining room table, datapad out and headphones on. She got Mika’s attention and said good morning, and went to see what Scorpio was puttering around with in the kitchen.

Which turned out to be a small scramble for her.

She sat at the table and forced herself to eat the small amount—looked like one egg, a little bit of mild turkey sausage and some veggies. Hopefully enough to settle her stomach before lunch. Because she really did like the sushi place where they were going to eat, as did all the girls.

By the time she was done eating, they needed to head over to the restaurant to meet Stinger and Naga. Scorpio put together a simple lunch for the babies, and made all three of the older girls promise not to feed the babies anything at lunch. Shoes were on and they were out the door, Echidna with Coral in a sling against her, and Scorpio with Akane in a sling. The place was within walking distance, and Mika, Kaliya and Misha walked slightly ahead of them, talking about school.

At the restaurant, Echidna hugged Naga hard.

There was still so much for them to figure out. Misha’s school, because she vaguely remembered Scorpio saying something about that. The newest baby, which she and Scorpio would be involved in somehow.

Right now, she was just relieved that Naga wasn’t livid with her.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading and commenting and joining me on this journey! One more chapter after this! :) Let me know you're out there - leave a comment or a kudos, and feel free to send me asks on tumblr! Continuing shout-out to 8bitstrawberrie for being my first reader and her continuing encouragement or support. THANK YOU FOR READING!


	5. What Comes Next?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpio and Echidna find a new school for Misha. Stinger and Naga bond over their new baby, and get a surprise that makes Echidna laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go with the final chapter! Enjoy!

**Chapter Five: What Comes Next?**

_Do you have a clue what happens now?_

The entrance to the school was in an open courtyard. Bright sunlight streamed through the trees, which swayed lazily in the breeze. A stone fountain bubbled in the center of the stone entry. Echidna held Scorpio’s hand as they walked through the courtyard towards the front doors. Misha walked ahead of them, looking around with interest. Coral was with Naga and Stinger for the morning, probably playing in the ball pit with Akane.

“It’s so big!” Misha commented.

Echidna caught Scorpio smile. Misha thought every building was big—probably because she was still so short. “This is really nice,” he said softly.

“It is,” she agreed.

They had a video call with the principal earlier in the week. Misha’s current teacher sat in on the call and introduced them, talking about where Misha was academically (which was far ahead of all the other kids in her class.) Echidna had been proud of herself for managing not to swear throughout the whole conversation. The principal was laid back and seemed genuinely interested in Misha (and their family.) Misha got on the call for a little bit, but was distracted with looking for bugs in the backyard. And the principal wasn’t fazed at all by that. Then they were invited to tour the campus, and participate in the actual interview process.

Scorpio had tried to get Misha to wear one of her nicer dresses, but in typical fashion, their daughter went her own way. She was wearing pink pants with a green striped shirt, carrying her superhero backpack and wearing two different shoes. At least she’d let Scorpio braid her hair. There was no getting their daughter to conform—they’d raised her to do what she wanted and she just lived things her way. While things at school had gotten better, Echidna could see that Misha definitely needed something more.

The lobby was quiet, with the noise of classrooms in the distance.

The receptionist stood up when they entered and addressed Misha directly, “You must be Misha,” he said with a smile. “Welcome! We’re excited to meet you!”

Echidna gave Scorpio a sidelong look. _Nice touch_.

The principal came out too. “Hello,” she said with a smile. “Glad to meet you in person.”

“You too,” Scorpio replied.

“We’re going to talk to Misha a little bit in one of our classrooms,” she explained. “You will be there, of course, and then we’ll meet in my office and talk about the future.”

Seemed reasonable.

The classroom was set up with a few tables and desks, lots of colorful posters and rugs. “We use this as a resource room when students need a quiet space to themselves,” she explained. “Think of this as a conference room for the students.”

The interview really was just talking to Misha. The principal watched her color on her datapad and asked her about school, her drawing, what she liked to do, the kind of books she liked to read, even what her favorite Circuit shows were. And in typical fashion, Misha explained the entire first season of Princess Lucy in excruciating detail, including how she thought she would have rewritten the ending. That led into the principal asking if she liked to write her own stories, and Misha showed her one of the puppet shows with her stuffed animals on her datapad. Also a lot of stories about things her and Kaliya did together.

“Kaliya is my cousin and she’s my best friend ever!”

Soon enough, they were back in the principal’s office. Misha sat outside the office, talking animatedly to the receptionist.

“Your daughter is extremely bright,” the principal said, “and very creative. I think she’d be a really good fit here.”

“Really?” Echidna asked faintly.

A large part of her had been convinced that the school would reject her daughter. She’d really been hoping that this would work out, but a dark part of her always thought that this wouldn’t work out. Scorpio squeezed her hand.

“Absolutely! She likes a variety of subjects and she is already a year ahead in school, along with her advanced reading level and math skills.” The principal smiled. “We have an opening in one of our five-six year old classes. The teachers will work with her to make sure that the curriculum meets her level and she keeps learning. In fact,” the principal gestured, “once we get the enrollment stuff out of the way, we can see her classroom, introduce her to her teacher.”

Scorpio asked a few questions about the teacher and the classroom.

Echidna wasn’t paying much attention to the questions. She glanced out the window of the office and watched as Misha was clearly telling a story to the receptionist.

She tuned back in to hear Scorpio say, “And this school is close enough that she can still carpool with her cousins. We take turns driving the girls to school.”

Then some questions about lunch.

“All the kids are served lunch here, in their classroom. They take turns serving and cleaning up, and we can accommodate any dietary restrictions.”

The enrollment paperwork came next and Scorpio handed her the datapad for her fingerprint too and had her look up contact information for Stinger and Naga (to give them permission to pick up and drop off Misha from school.) Scorpio had taken care of all the school paperwork for Misha, although Echidna might insist on being involved in the care center paperwork for Coral (just so she knew what was going on.) No tuition, because the school was associated with the local district. They went down the hallway with Misha between them to see the new classroom.

The classroom was bright and colorful with lots of activity, in spite of the small number of kids. Less than ten. They were playing, reading, coloring.

The principal introduced them to the teacher.

“I’m Suto-sensei,” the teacher introduced herself. “I’m really excited you’ll be joining our class, Misha,” she said directly to her daughter. “Let me show you around and introduce you to the other students.”

Misha suddenly looked shy, but tentatively took the teacher’s hand and followed her around the classroom—from which cubby would be hers to her new desk and then showing her the other kids. After a moment, the teacher turned Misha loose to play with the others for a few minutes. Her eyes were wide as she approached the other kids. But they immediately invited her over to play with them and help with the design they were working on with building blocks and simple machines.

“I try to give them lots of materials to build and explore,” the teacher explained. “This group really likes to build machines and do programming.” She smiled. “A lot of them have reprogrammed their datapads and then showed the rest of the class. They’ll show Misha too.”

“They seem really open to newcomers,” Scorpio commented.

“Yes, that’s one of the values here. Kindness and compassion. Treating everyone as an equal. The kids understand that’s an expectation and behave accordingly. The classes also bond a lot. The kids all end up really close.”

“That’s great!”

“The parents have some message boards and support groups, and they like to include siblings and family members that don’t necessarily go to this school. It’s great. Gives everyone a wider perspective.” She shrugged. “At the end of the day, they really just want what’s best for the kids.”

Echidna could overhear one of the kids explaining to Misha that having two different colored eyes was a genetic mutation called heterochromia, and then they were talking about all the bugs Misha caught and their proper names. Misha seemed animated and engaged and excited. She critically eyed the machine and made some suggestions, working with another girl to get the thing to work the way they wanted and roll a marble down a slide, among other things.

Scorpio looked at her. “You okay?” he asked.

“She looks really happy,” she said softly.

“She does. This will be good for her.” He squeezed her hand, “And we can still carpool with Stinger and Naga.”

“You don’t have to make her lunch anymore.”

“The kids take turns bringing in a morning snack to share,” the teacher offered. “They like to bring special family recipes. We don’t have any allergies in our class, so they get creative.”

“Misha will like that,” Echidna murmured.

“She has some traditional Scorpius System recipes she can bring,” Scorpio added. “We’re close to my brother’s family,” he added for the teacher.

She nodded. “We don’t usually see kids or families from the Scorpius System, so the other kids will be really excited about trying the snacks and learning more in general.”

Echidna watched as the teacher called the kids to attention and formally introduced Misha to them. She explained to everyone which cubby would be Misha’s and which desk, and that she would be joining them on Monday. She expected everyone to be nice, include Misha, and help her learn their classroom routines. Misha looked a little shy about being in the spotlight, but smiled when another girl immediately ran up and hugged her. The kids started asking the teacher questions, mostly wanting to make sure that Misha would have her name on her desk and cubby like them, and that she knew all about their class teddy bear and the adventures that the bear went on at each of their houses on the weekend. Echidna had to smile again. Misha would be fine here. The other kids would make sure.

The lunch bell rang in their classroom and the kids started working to get the room ready for lunch, while three of them went to the cafeteria to get the food. Misha got ready to leave.

The teacher said her goodbyes, but before they left, Scorpio added softly, “We had some issues at Misha’s current school with bullying.”

She looked sympathetic. “I’ll keep an eye on her. We have a zero tolerance policy for that. Plus,” she looked at Misha talking animatedly to the girl that hugged her and built machines with her. “I think her and Vega are going to be very good friends.”

They said their goodbyes and left the school.

The drive home was filled with Misha chattering about the new school.

“Where do you want to eat lunch, Misha?” Scorpio asked her in a lull in her chattering.

“Bonnie’s!” she said enthusiastically.

“Why does that not surprise me?” Echidna muttered.

Scorpio grinned. “You love Bonnie’s too!”

“Did you see the class teddy bear?” Misha asked, practically bouncing in her seat.

Echidna glanced at her phone as Scorpio drove and found a parking spot near Bonnie’s. Naga had sent a picture of the babies in the ball pit, sitting in their donut pillows. She had to smile again. They’d taken so many pictures of Coral and Akane in that ridiculous ball pit, and she now realized that she would never be tired of pictures of them in that thing. They were so adorable and liked to push the balls around.

They got into the ice cream place, and Scorpio took Misha to the counter to order their food.

She got their usual booth and stared out the window. She was amazed that this had worked out so nicely. Misha seemed to really like the school and everything would be fine now. The class was small, so the teacher would be able to keep a close eye on Misha. A part of her wondered what happened to the other teacher from her class at the old school, and she was glad that Misha would make some new friends, and she hoped that she would still be close with Kaliya. (Though she doubted that much would ever come between Misha and Kaliya. They were best friends.)

“What did you get?” she asked as Scorpio and Misha came back to the table.

“Chicken tenders!”

“Of course you did,” she muttered.

Misha climbed into the booth across from her, so Scorpio slid in next to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. She relaxed into the warmth of his body. This place was so damn cold and her nerves had been on over drive all morning.

“Everything’s good,” he whispered to her.

“No. We have to have dinner with your brother tomorrow.”

“How is that bad?”

“And Naga wants us to go to the parent group mixer before.”

He was still smiling. “I’m making lasagna.”

“Fine. I’ll put up with it for lasagna.”

“Always could bribe you with food.”

Echidna smiled and shook her head. “What am I doing to do with you?”

\------------------

The next evening, Scorpio and Stinger came back into the living room from getting dinner ready and in the oven. Echidna looked up from her datapad and scooted a little closer when Scorpio sat down next to her. She closed the galactic trade reports. Only so much interesting stuff anyways. Naga looked at Stinger as he sat down next to him. Echidna tried not to pull a face as Naga snuggled back against Stinger, settling into his arms. Stinger moved his hands over Naga’s stomach and Naga rested his hands over his. Fucking hell, Naga was barely showing right now.

“Knock it off with the lovey dovey crap,” Echidna muttered.

“Why?” Stinger asked, although she could tell by his irritating grin that he was asking to be annoying, not because he genuinely wanted the answer.

“Because I’m going to throw up if you don’t.”

“Come on, you and Scorpio do this all the time,” Stinger pointed out.

“Not like _that_.”

Naga looked at Stinger. “Do we have any vegetables leftover?”

“From the tray? Yes.”

“Can you go get them? I’m hungry.”

Stinger gave him a quick kiss and immediately got up, disappearing into the kitchen. Echidna made a disgusted face, while Scorpio laughed.

“Can you get him to do anything?” Echidna asked Naga.

Naga shrugged. “Within reason.”

If she wanted to take a step back and be objective, she knew that Scorpio would do almost anything for her when she’d been pregnant with Misha and Coral. He ran errands, brought her whatever food she wanted and, when she’d been pregnant with Coral, entertained Misha and kept her out of her hair when she wasn’t feeling well.

With Stinger in the kitchen, Naga asked, “Is Misha excited about her new school?”

“I think so,” Scorpio replied. “She already made a friend.”

“She was only in the classroom for half an hour,” Echidna muttered.

Naga smiled. “That’s great. I’ve been hearing her talk to Kaliya about it.”

“Her current teacher is really excited for her,” Scorpio added. “She thinks it will be a good fit for her, and from what we’ve seen already, we agree. Her new class will be small, only ten kids, and the teacher genuinely teaches them about social responsibility and community.”

“She said she was building a machine with her new friend.”

“Yeah, they have blocks and all kinds of things.”

“Teacher said they teach each other to program too.” Echidna rolled her eyes. “How are we supposed to keep her datapad safe if she hacks it?”

Naga laughed. “Eventually, you won’t be able to, but Mika and Kaliya are pretty savvy, and I have some protocols they can’t get around. I’ll add them to Misha’s datapad too.”

Scorpio nodded. “That would be great.” He sighed. “She’s a good kid, but she’s going to outpace us eventually. Just don’t want her seeing anything wildly age inappropriate.”

Naga’s grin was damned annoying. “Just slightly age inappropriate?”

“Of course,” Echidna shot back. “How else is she supposed to feel rebellious?”

Stinger came back into the room with the vegetable tray and set everything on the table, notably within arm’s reach of Naga. Guess that settled who Stinger cared about?

Echidna turned, looking out the window. Misha and Kaliya were in the treehouse, visible from the windows. Distantly, she could hear them listening to some kind of kiddie pop music, playing on their datapads and then going to one of Kaliya’s various craft projects up there. Misha looked happy, not stressed for the first time in a while. Mika was upstairs in her room. Meanwhile, the babies were down for naps in Akane’s room. They’d wake up any minute now, in time for dinner, but right now, all the kids were occupied and happy, and that was about all that Echidna could hope for any day.

She looked back in the living room and immediately rolled her eyes.

Stinger had taken his previous seat next to Naga, but pulled Naga back into his arms, pressing kisses to his cheek and resting his hands on his stomach.

“Will you two seriously cut that out?” Echidna grumbled.

“I’m just really happy,” was Stinger’s nonsense reply.

“You still have six months to do that shit. Save it for when I’m not here!”

Naga looked at Stinger, smiling and stole one last kiss.

Echidna looked at Scorpio. “Tell your brother to stop.”

Scorpio snorted. “He doesn’t listen to me.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Echidna leaned against him in a _totally_ appropriate way that was _nothing_ like what Stinger and Naga were currently doing. “Hey,” Scorpio asked them, “how are you two doing? I know the baby was a surprise and you two really don’t like surprises.”

Stinger shrugged, just _goddamn shrugged_. “We’re good.”

Echidna blinked, then sputtered, “You’re fucking what now?”

“We’re good,” he repeated.

Scorpio exchanged a glance with her. “I mean, you two were freaking out a week ago. What changed?” he asked gently.

Naga squeezed Stinger’s hand and answered, “We realized we just needed to go with this. I’m having the baby, and it’s way sooner than we wanted, but we can handle this.”

_That_ answered nothing and frustrated Echidna. How were they so _calm_ all of a sudden?

“Oh, Aniki, that reminds me,” Stinger piped up. “Can you help me with the baby’s quilt?”

“Sure. What color scheme this time?”

“We’ve done purple, pink and yellow. Maybe a nice teal this time?”

“What is wrong with you?” Echidna burst out.

Stinger and Naga both turned towards her, looking confused.

“You two get all stupid and nervous when a restaurant loses our reservation, and who fucking cares about that? You’re having a totally unplanned _baby_ and you’re just cool with that?”

“It’s hard to explain,” Stinger replied slowly.

Scorpio rubbed her back a little.

“Try me,” Echidna replied evenly.

Naga cut in with, “We’ve done a lot of talking in the last week, and realized that trying to plan everything was not going to be sustainable. Good grief, we shouldn’t have been able to keep that up for as long as we did. With the parent groups falling apart and the newest baby, and then getting a new routine with Misha going to a new school, we realized this was good. We’ll be ready when the baby comes, but we can be a little more spontaneous.”

“What, like ice cream for dinner?”

“Maybe,” Naga said with a shrug. Then he patted Stinger’s arm. “We were going to see if the beach house was available soon.”

Scorpio questioned that with, “Beach house?”

“Yeah, we thought a weekend away would be nice.”

“The girls have school,” Scorpio mentioned.

“Yes. We’d pick them up from school on Friday, go to the beach house and come back after lunch on Sunday. Thought it would be fun.” Naga explained all of that casually, as if they just went away for spontaneous weekend trips all the time.

“You _never_ do that unless there’s a school holiday,” Echidna sputtered.

“I know, but it will be fun to get away with the girls before the new baby gets here.”

“You want to come along?” Stinger asked.

“Which weekend?” Scorpio wanted to know.

Another shrug from his little brother. “Whatever weekend the beach house is available.”

Echidna turned to Scorpio. “They have been replaced with robots that look like them.”

Stinger grabbed his datapad off the table and handed the device to Naga, who immediately began scrolling through what Echidna assumed to be beach house rentals. Stinger still had his hands on Naga’s stomach, but was watching the scrolling and making comments every so often. Echidna grabbed a handful of baby carrots and frowned, watching the scene in front of her. She couldn’t decide if something was extremely wrong with Stinger and Naga, or if they had just finally figured out how to relax and actually enjoy themselves? Fucking weirdos. Why had she married into this family? Oh right, because she loved her husband and he was extremely hot and very good in bed. Among other things. Eventually Naga landed on a rental.

“You all want to go with us next weekend?” Naga asked.

“Next weekend?” Echidna blurted, while Scorpio said, “That’s a little soon, right?”

“It will be fun!” Stinger cajoled.

“Okay,” Echidna interrupted, sitting up straight. “This has gone too far. You two need to figure out how to put a little bit of structure back in your lives.” The timer in the kitchen went off. She stood up. “I am going to put garlic butter on bread. When I get back, this fucking _nonsense_ better be over.”

Scorpio followed her into the kitchen. “Wouldn’t hurt us to go along,” he commented neutrally, handing her the garlic butter from the fridge.

“No,” she agreed, “but those two have gone too far in the other direction.”

“They’ll be fine.”

She sighed, grabbing the loaf of bread from the bread box, and then the bread knife from a drawer. “Probably.” She shook her head. “But Misha will have just gotten through her first week at her new school. What if she needs to rest?”

“She’s five. Even if she is tired and cranky, she doesn’t believe a nap will help her.” Scorpio shook his head. “It will probably be fun.”

“I know.” She glanced back in the living room. Stinger and Naga were back to snuggling and being stupidly romantic. “Are they really okay?”

“They’ve had a lot of reality checks lately. Maybe they did learn to relax, or maybe they’re just faking it really well.” He leaned against the counter.

Echidna cut the loaf of bread in half and started spreading the butter.

“Are _you_ doing okay?” she asked him softly.

He smiled. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. I would tell you otherwise.” He smiled a little. “Misha is going to be fine. She tell you what she wants for her birthday yet?”

Echidna stopped what she was doing. “No. Do I want to know this?”

“She wants you to take her and Kaliya to the farmer’s market for chocolate croissants.”

She blinked. “She actually said that.”

“Yes, she did.”

“Fuck, how did we get such a good kid?” She wrinkled her nose and finished spreading the butter around. Scorpio got a baking sheet out of the cupboard and she transferred the bread to the sheet. “Also, why does she want me, specifically, to take them?”

“Probably because you’ll let them get two croissants each, and get their faces painted, and get ribbons in their hair.”

“It’s cheap and they ate them!” Echidna defended herself.

“No one is complaining,” Scorpio soothed her. “Kids need treats every so often.”

“We didn’t have that at all in the Ophiuchus System. Not even the concept.”

Scorpio sighed a little. “My parents tried, but we had no money. And I tried with Stinger, but again, no resources.” He looked wistful, then said, “I’m glad things are different now. My home planet didn’t have technological infrastructure. People got sick and died from things that are easily treated here.” He took another breath. “I’m glad Stinger didn’t give up on me.”

Echidna half-smiled. “I’m glad _you_ didn’t give up on _me_.”

He smiled. “You were never intimidated by my past. Why would I be intimidated by yours?”

“Because I’m still a mess.”

“We all are.”

She shoved the bread in the oven. “Are they done canoodling?”

Scorpio glanced into the living room. “Not yet.”

“We could make out in here for a while?”

Ended up being a decent plan. Scorpio got one arm around her waist, the other threaded through her hair as they kissed lazily in the warm kitchen. She leaned back against the counter, arms around his neck, keeping him close to her, enjoying the familiarity and intimacy in the kisses. They were in the middle of a long, pleasant kiss when the timer went off for a second time. Echidna pulled back, looking a little bit dazed.

The timer seemed to magically summon the three older girls from the yard and the rest of the house, while simultaneously waking up the babies (who both began to wail.) Scorpio went with Stinger to go take care of Akane and Coral, while Naga directed the girls to wash their hands and set the table. Echidna helped him get the food out of the oven and make a bowl of salad. Soon enough, they were all sitting around the table. Akane and Coral were in their high chairs, eating their dinner, while the rest of them ate spicy sausage and spinach mushroom lasagna.

She looked around the table at everyone eating and laughing.

Didn’t really seem that long ago that she wanted to literally punch Stinger every time she saw him. Now, he was just _there_ and she knew he cared and they could pick at each other, but nothing serious. He’d always come through in the end. And Naga, her best friend, probably the only person that cared about her for a long time. The reason she had other friends, other people in her life that cared about her daughters too. (She really hoped Balance wouldn’t spontaneously show up with presents for a while—he’d been around a lot, so the girls had gotten lots of gifts. Raptor helped him. They were generous and loved the girls, but one more light-up baby thing for Coral and Echidna was going to go insane.) Hell, Hammie and Spada even came around enough that they were practically family too.

When she left the Ophiuchus System, she never really thought she’d have friends or a family. Just thought she’d been alone, no one to rely on but herself. Then she met Scorpio. At a bar. Really fucked up meet-cute because all her previous encounters in bars ended in sex and going their separate ways. But she’d wanted to keep Scorpio around and the rest was history.

“We need to get Raptor and Balance an anniversary gift,” Naga was saying.

Stinger blinked, looking truly confused. “They’re married?”

Naga frowned. “Yes. They had a big party. We were there.”

“I thought Balance just had a coordinated party.” Stinger looked terribly confounded.

“Mika, Kaliya and Misha were flower girls!”

“Yeah!” Kaliya added. “It was fun.”

Scorpio shook his head. “He doesn’t remember.”

Naga looked a bit frustrated, saying, “How can he not—” Then realization dawn. “Never mind. I know how he doesn’t remember that at all.”

“Because he was so drunk Scorpio had to pour him into a cab,” Echidna muttered low enough for the girls to not hear, while Scorpio laughed.

In Stinger’s defense, the punch got spiked by Balance and then double and triple spiked by Balance’s family members. Echidna took one sip of the stuff and started coughing. And she downed whiskey with no problem. By the time the kids went back to their hotel rooms with the nannies, the adults were already far gone. And Stinger hit the punch _hard_. He’d definitely had a good time, but been completely miserable in the morning. Miserable enough that Echidna took the three girls out for some shopping, while Scorpio and Naga made sure Stinger didn’t need to go to the hospital. Good times.

“But they did announce the wedding about two days before it happened,” Echidna said louder.

Stinger shook his head. “They’re _married_?”

Naga rubbed his back. “I’ll show you the pictures.”

“Can I?” Echidna asked. “Please?” There were some _excellent_ drunk pictures of Stinger.

“No,” Naga said with a grin.

This was _cozy_ and _fun_.

How had she gotten this lucky?

\------------------

_Six Months Later_

Coral had just started going to a local nursery two days a week. While she was used to staying with Stinger and Naga, and other family friends, they wanted her to get used to a more school-like setting, especially getting her ready for preschool. She had just turned a year old, as had Akane (who went to the same nursery program, but was in a different class.)

The morning actually started last night.

In spite of not being due for another two weeks, Naga had insisted to Stinger (and anyone else who would listen, really) that the baby was coming soon—in another day or two. Stinger kept repeating the baby’s due date and trying to get Naga to relax, until Echidna told him to stop. _She_ had been surprised when she went into labor with Misha and Coral, but Naga always seemed to know the day before he was going to have the baby. That pointed out, Stinger had paused and said, “Well, her room has been ready for three weeks, so that’s fine,” as if he had any control over when the baby arrived.

“What is wrong with you?” Echidna had ground out.

“I’m just saying—”

“Shut-up and go rub Naga’s back.”

Thankfully, Stinger had listened.

But because Naga started saying that yesterday afternoon, Scorpio offered to come over and cook dinner, then take the girls for the night. Kaliya could sleep in Misha’s room and they could put up a playpen in Coral’s room for Akane to sleep. Mika would sleep on an inflatable mattress in their study and could use Scorpio’s desk to do her homework or whatever else she wanted. So Scorpio fed everyone and they got all the girls packed with enough clothing for two nights. Stinger made lunches for everyone for three days and sent those with them. Echidna gave Naga a hug before they left, asking him to tell her when he officially went into labor.

All the girls back at their house, they got them in bed fairly quickly.

The morning had been chaotic, but everyone got breakfast and got to school on time, including taking the appropriate lunch (except for Misha, whose school provided lunch.)

They’d gotten back from getting everyone off to school, when Stinger _finally_ called and said that Naga had officially gone into labor. They had just arrived at the hospital.

Good thing they had the girls pack for a second night. Although depending on when Naga had the baby, he might try to get released the same day. Weirdo. But Stinger had promised to call them as soon as the baby had been born. Depending on the timing, they may or may not bring the girls for the first visit. School didn’t let out until four, but this was Naga’s fourth. Echidna had been shocked with how much faster her labor with Coral had gone as compared to Misha. Naga had Akane after a ridiculously short amount of time.

“I’m bored and it’s too early to eat lunch,” Echidna complained.

Scorpio was reading something on his datapad. “Naga won’t have had the baby yet.”

“I know.” She muttered, “I hate waiting.”

He looked up. “You do hate waiting. So what do you want to do while we’re waiting?”

“We could fuck?”

Scorpio grinned.

Which was how they got into _this_ situation.

Echidna got a hand on the back of his neck, pulling him in for a long, messy, bruising kiss, one she felt through her entire body, teeth clashing and tongues working for dominance. She _loved_ kisses like this, so thorough and beautiful and made her feel so satisfied. She tightened a leg around his waist, keeping him as close as she wanted. His teeth gently scraped her bottom lip as they parted. She moaned, deep in the back of her throat. His skin was flushed, sweat beading his brow, but he looked happy and relaxed and fucking amazing.

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed.

She tugged him as close as possible, his weight pressing her into the mattress. “I love you,” she ground out, “But I need you to go harder.”

“Anything you want, beautiful.”

But then he obliged her and she made a loud noise. He slammed home a few times and she felt lost in the heat, the rhythm, how fucking _good_ he was at this. Then he changed angles just enough and, “Fuck!” she shouted.

He had that _stupid_ shit-eating grin on his face and she didn’t even call him out, because he was doing exactly what she wanted him to be doing. She arched her back, hips rising to meet his thrusts. He got a hand between their bodies, gently squeezing her breast, thumb flicking across her nipple in a move that he knew she loved.

“You are putting lotion on my tits later,” she informed him.

“Only if we do it in front of a mirror so you can touch yourself while I watch.”

“You kinky fucker, that sounds fun!”

He thrust in, hitting her sweet spot _just_ right and she moaned. She was going to need ice cream and a cold shower after this before anything else, but goddamn, she loved him, and loved _this_ about their relationship. Her nails dug into his back.

She was so close, familiar shivers running down her back, body tightening.

Scorpio’s phone rang.

“Oh, what the fuck?” she exclaimed as Scorpio stopped moving.

“It’s Stinger,” he replied.

“No fucking way Naga had the baby that fast.” She groaned. “Well, fuck, answer him.”

Scorpio pulled out as gently as he could and then grabbed his phone, answering quickly. Echidna watched him as he settled next to her on the bed, still with a raging hard-on. Fuck, the man had a nice cock and he knew how to use it. (Some men didn’t, in her experience.) She sat up, reaching between his legs and just squeezing him a little. He visibly shook, fighting to keep from making a noise. But she stopped the moment he asked, “What do you mean something’s wrong? Is she okay?”

Echidna could hear Stinger say. “Naga’s fine. So is the baby. Just—get down here.”

“Okay. Should we bring lunch?”

“Naga’s not up for eating anything yet.”

“I meant for you, genius.”

“Oh. Yes, please.”

“What’s his damage?” Echidna asked as Scorpio disconnected the call.

He shook his head. “Not sure. He didn’t sound panicked, which he would if Naga or the baby had been hurt.”

“Well, that’s good that they’re okay. What could possibly be wrong?”

Scorpio rolled his eyes. “Stinger pretends he doesn’t, but he had a flare for the dramatic.”

Echidna sighed. “I guess we should go down there.” She looked him up and down. “We could save time by finishing in the shower?”

A few minutes later, warm water spraying over them, Echidna just made a loud noise, pressed against the cool tile, legs wrapped around Scorpio’s waist, finally shaking through her orgasm. He came seconds after her, arms tightening around her. She tentatively attempted to put a leg down. “Shit, I don’t think I can walk,” she muttered.

“That good, huh?”

She tweaked his nipple. “You are the only man I know that can brag about consistently delivering.”

He grinned and steadied her, arms still around her waist. He grabbed a scrubbing poof and got some of her soap on the thing, lathering up. She let him wash her, and then took the scrubber from him, returning the favor. Didn’t bother washing their hair, because they’d already done that recently and she could just braid hers.

“What are we getting for lunch?” she asked.

“Something simple. Maybe soup and sandwiches?”

They got dressed and stopped by a local place on the way to the hospital. Echidna waited in the car while Scorpio ordered and came back with a bag of sandwiches and soups. She looked through the bag, asking, “Did you get the chicken tortilla?”

“Yes, and you can tell Stinger that one is yours.”

Echidna carried the bag of food, half-listening as Scorpio asked which room Naga was in, and then led the way there. The room looked exactly like any room after Naga had any of his kids—regular hospital room, Naga looking exhausted and in pain, baby sleeping in the bassinet, while Stinger sat next to him, admiring him and the baby.

She didn’t even wait for anyone to say hello, just asked, “What’s the problem?”

Naga smiled tiredly and nodded towards the bassinet.

She got close enough to see in the bassinet and started laughing.

The baby was wrapped in a _blue_ hospital blanket. _Blue_. She laughed harder. They hadn’t bothered to get the baby’s gender before the birth, figuring they’d end up with another girl. They had three daughters already and two nieces, so assuming another girl was not exactly unfounded. But they’d ended up with a boy! So much for Stinger’s planning. Weirdo. She backed away and set the food down on one of the chairs, still laughing to herself.

“You did pick teal,” Scorpio pointed out. “And babies are gender neutral anyways.”

“There is one more thing,” Stinger added. He kissed Naga’s temple and gently got off the bed. He went over to the bassinet and picked up the sleeping baby, who made a slightly unhappy noise. The baby had black hair. Stinger undid the blanket just enough to see that the baby had a black scorpion tail, just like Scorpio and Misha.

“It skips generations,” Scorpio commented with a smile.

“I know,” Stinger replied, also smiling. “And now we’ve got two of them.” He shook his head. “Our grandmother wrote in her journal about how people with a black tail brough good luck.”

Scorpio exhaled harshly. “I don’t bring good luck.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself,” Naga replied softly.

“What’s his name?” Echidna asked.

“When we thought the baby would be a girl, we picked the name Marika,” Stinger explained.

Echidna knew why—that was a fairly common name in the Ophiuchus System. Even without emotions, females named Marika were thought to be high achievers and almost all of them ended up in high powered or exclusive job placements. Although on Earth, the name simply referred to the jasmine fragrance. (Which was a ridiculous thing she’d learned about languages.) She could see why Naga would pick that name to honor his roots, but also convey his future wishes for her.

“We talked about it,” Naga picked up. “And we talked about naming him after you,” he added to Scorpio.

Who opened his mouth to speak, but Stinger said quickly, “But we knew you wouldn’t like that.”

“Thank you,” Scorpio replied softly. “But I am honored you thought of it.”

“He’s not dead. That’s weird,” Echidna muttered.

Naga suppressed a laugh. “Stinger’s and Scorpio’s grandmother was named Akane, so we wanted a family name, but also something honoring his particular heritage,” which Echidna took to mean the fact that this baby had a black tail. “And we did a little research and learned that their great grandfather, the last one until Scorpio to have a black tail, was named Daiyu, which means black jade.” Naga motioned to the baby. “So meet Daiyu.”

Stinger got him wrapped securely in his blanket again and handed the baby to Scorpio, who immediately cradled the little boy close, rocking him a little. Naga smiled at them from the bed. Echidna crept closer, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Are you okay?” she asked him softly.

Naga nodded. “I’m fine.”

“Stinger panic about the baby being a boy?”

“Only for a moment, then he settled down.” Naga shook his head. “I know I’m the one that likes to plan and I got Stinger into that habit, and I know it doesn’t seem that way, but he’s gotten a lot better the last six months. This is good for both of us.” Naga shrugged. “Never dealt with a boy baby before. This will be a new experience.”

Echidna gently squeezed his wrist. “You want some food?”

“You brought some soup?”

“Yes, what kind? Not chicken tortilla though. That’s mine.”

Naga smiled. “Chicken noodle, if you have it.”

She nodded and got the bag of food, smiling at Scorpio and Stinger fussing over the baby.

Didn’t seem like that long ago that she’d been here, having Coral, and Scorpio had been doting on her immediately too. Now Coral was a year old, started walking, pulling herself up on the furniture and using the furniture as a guide to move around the room. A few steps without a prop here and there. She’d be walking on her very, very soon and no one would be able to stop her. And Misha had already turned six, practically blossoming in her new school. She liked her new friend Vega, and had a playdate with Vega and Kaliya, who both got along well with each other.

Echidna handed Naga the soup. “You going to have any more?” she asked.

He laughed a little. “No. Four is more than enough. Why? Are you thinking about it?”

“Oh hell no. Coral is about to walk. I already need her on a leash as it is.”

Naga smiled. “Misha is going to be your scientist. Coral is going to lead social justice causes or be a lawyer.”

“She’s one. There’s no way you can know that.”

“Trust me, I know.”

Scorpio handed baby Daiyu back to Stinger, who got him settled back to sleep and in his bassinet. They handed out the rest of the food, and Stinger dug into the food like he hadn’t eaten all day, which he likely hadn’t. The girls would stay with them another night, and go home after school tomorrow. Although they’d be on school and nursery duty for a few weeks, until Naga and Stinger got adjusted to the new baby. At least this was only one new baby and not two.

Echidna didn’t know what the future held.

But she felt ready.

Fin.

7 June 2020 – 26 July 2020

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, everyone! I love this universe and am glad you all decided to come along on this crazy ride with me! I'm so happy to share this with you all! Thank you for all your comments, kudos and asks over on tumblr!
> 
> And HUGE shout-out to 8bitstrawberrie for all her help, support and encouragement on this piece! This would not have come together without her!
> 
> I'm thinking through my next project! Feel free to send me requests on tumblr! THANK YOU EVERYONE!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone! I don't know how quickly updates will be for this, but I am hoping once a week! Please leave a kudos or a comment, let me know you're out there! Also feel free to send me asks on tumblr as well! THANK YOU FOR READING!


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